Chaos
by Wolfbanekapu
Summary: Something's wrong with Daniel, he's hiding something and it's slowly beginning to tear him a part. It's a secret from the past that he's kept and now it's beginning to come to light. Now it's threatening to turn him against the Voltron Force. What will he do? Rated T for violence
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Voltron Force**

**Note: **_So like I know I'm supposed to be working on my digimon fic but this one will be updated on certain days so I can keep working on my other fanfiction. Because it's summer right now I might do more than one chapter on these days so be prepare for double and triple updates =D. However when school starts up updates will be coming slower. Ugh… well at least I'm almost finished with school (I'm a junior). _

_Character POV will change from time to time but will mostly be Daniel's_

_Anywho this fic is about Daniel so if you don't like him then don't read. I adore Daniel._

_**Rated T for violence**_

_/_

**I**

**Temper, temper**

**Daniel POV…**

Quick question for all of you out there.

Say something bad happened when you were younger on a certain day. The bad thing that happened on this certain day happened to someone close to you. Now let's say that this someone were two people you cared about the most, the ones you looked up to, and the ones you had so much pride and respect for. Keeping up?

Good, now what if on this certain day with those two certain someones everything changed. Everything you thought about them changed and they let you down. They betrayed you and left you behind in pain, and they've become complete strangers. Deep inside you know that if you ever saw them again they would probably kill you.

Would you say they were dead?

Next question! Now say it's been I don't know…about four years after those events and today is the "anniversary" of when it all happened. Not exactly a day to celebrate right? So now you're stuck with those awful memories. You wouldn't want to be bother by anyone right, I mean if you're in a bad mood you wouldn't want to talk right?

Here's another question. If one of you mentors kept bothering you about your bad mood; do you think it's their own fault for getting a broken nose when they wouldn't leave you alone?

Did I mention I broke Lance's nose?

So here I was standing here in the control room with my arms crossed, getting stared down by Keith. Apparently regardless of what mood you're in hitting is a no no unless it's during training. I felt like a little grade school kid being scowled at like this.

"Want to tell me what's going on Daniel?" Keith asked.

I shot Lance—whom was across the room hold a tissue to his face—a dark look. He glared back at me and turned away. I knew later on he was going to make me regret punching him like that…well unless Keith makes me now.

Keith gave me an impatient look. "I wasn't in a good mood and I'm still not in a good mood. There's your answer, are you happy now?" I retorted.

Keith looked back at Lance who now was coming over. I clenched my teeth, right now all I wanted to do is find a match and burn some of my possessions like I did every year. However my temper was only rising every second I was kept here. Today just wasn't my day, I didn't feel like dealing with Lance's or Keith's wrath.

"All I asked was if you were feeling okay?" Lance said when he came up to us.

Amusement bubbled in the back of my brain. Even if I was angry and this situation was serious; I couldn't help but find it funny. It was hard to take Lance seriously with his voice like that; apparently I punched pretty hard.

Despite that I wouldn't dare show any other emotion but anger and annoyance. "And I told you to leave me alone." I said making sure every word was dripping with rage. Too my satisfaction both of them moved back a little.

"Is there…something bothering you?" Keith asked calmly obviously trying to get me to calm down as well. Knowing it was useless to keep up this tantrum I let my temper ease a little. There _was _something bothering me, but that didn't mean I'll tell him anything.

"It's none of your business." I said turning my back on him, "You shouldn't be concerned about me."

Before I could march off I felt him put a firm hand on my shoulder. "Actually it is my business cadet. If there's something wrong with any of you then it's my responsibility to find out what."

Was he really going to lay down the authority card and force me to tell him? I glared at him and knocked his hand away. "You only think that…" I snarled before stalking off ignoring him when he called my name telling me to get back here. Now they definitely knew there was something wrong with me. It didn't matter though, because they weren't going to get anything out of me.

….

I was in my room and dropped to my knees to get something out from under the bed. After prodding around for awhile my fingers brushed over the object I was search for. However before I could grab it and pull it toward me Larmina and Vince walked in.

Oh joy there was no doubt in my mind that they were going to ask what was up with me. They probably were spying on the little conversation I had with Keith and came to see if I was okay. It was nice that they were concerned don't get me wrong, but…there were just…some things a guy couldn't talk about with friends. This was one of those things.

"Daniel?"

Quickly I let the object go and got to my feet hoping I didn't look suspicious. "Larmina, Vince!" I said in a light tone.

"So are you going to tell us what Lance did to deserve that right hook?' Vince ventured curiously.

"I was in a bad mood…"

Larmina put her hands on her hips. She wasn't going to leave with just that, she knew there was something else wrong. "Daniel you can tell us, we can keep it secret. Neither Vince nor I will tell the others what you told us." She looked generally worried about me, for I second I thought about telling them. Then I remembered the pain that day brought me and decide to keep it between me, myself, and I.

"Larmina it's nothing don't worry." I said feeling a small shred of guilt.

Larmina looked like she wanted to press the question even more, Vince looked very suspicious though. "Daniel." He said in that tone of voice that said 'Just tell me already'.

"It's nothing." I reassured.

"_Daniel."_

"_I said it's nothing." _ He still didn't look too satisfied with my answer. Sometimes I hated that mind link we had, I think it made me easier to read.

"So it was nothing when you snapped at Keith like that awhile ago."

My suspicion that they were watching was true. No surprise though. "Yes." Was my stubborn answer.

"And what was that you were looking at under the bed?" Vince gave me a smug smile.

I glanced back at my bed and clenched my teeth. He had me pinned right where he wanted me. I should have been more careful and looked around before looking under my bed. "I-I…I uh thought there were space mice."

Now both looked suspicious.

After staring me down for what seemed forever they both shrugged at each other. I held my breath so they wouldn't hear me sigh in relief. However it did reassure me that they knew when not to cross the line. Though that didn't mean they wouldn't press their questions on me every once in awhile.

It was for the best though, I didn't want them to know and I didn't want them to pity me. This was my problem and I had to deal with it on my own.

….

**Keith POV**

I stood there for a moment, still shocked at the sudden change in personality I saw in Daniel. At first I thought it was just him playing around trying to get on Lance's nerves. Though when he snapped at me like that I knew something was eating at him. Daniel never acted like that before, if he did then I never recalled it. He's always seemed like such a cocky, brash minded kid; not at all aggressive or temperamental.

I glanced to the side at Lance to see his reaction. His expression mirrored my own surprise and confusion. "You sure you didn't say anything to him that ticked him off? I mean did you do anything that might have made him want to hit you?" I asked.

Lance shook his head. "I told you all I did was asked him if he were okay. He's been acting really moody all day, like he has something on his mind."

"Anything happen yesterday?"

"Not that I know of and he seemed okay yesterday. Sure he seemed a little restless and acted kinda like a lone wolf besides that he seemed like his old trouble making self."

Not fresh news, Allura told me she noticed that Daniel had been acting a little distant in the last couple of days. Seeing him act the way he did worries me though, I should have been watching him more closely after Allura told me he's been acting strange.

"I should have been paying more attention to his more behavior." I murmured.

"Maybe the other cadets know something about how he's been acting. " Lance suggested.

It seemed like a good idea, but the problem is the three of them hang around each other most of the time. When it's not the three of them it's Daniel and Vince and I don't want to ask anything while Daniel's around.

I thought for a moment. "We'll ask Larmina when she's not hanging around them. I think she'll be the easiest to talk with anyway."

Lance nodded his agreement. "I'll see if I can keep the other two busy with something. Hopefully I don't get myself punched in the face again." He joked.

"Try not to okay, cause I don't think I could take your voice seriously like that. " I replied with a chuckle. Lance snorted and shoved my shoulder before walking away.

….

**Daniel POV**

When Larmina and Vince left I dropped back down to my knees and quickly reached under my bed. I pulled a thick picture album that was slightly charred looking. Brushing the dust off the cover I studied it grimly. The last time I tried to get rid of this stupid thing, it ended up coming back to me. Holding it right now made me feel like crying or throwing a fit. So much pain weld up inside me from all the bad memories from the past.

This thing held too many of those good memories gone wrong. I wanted to burn this thing, however when I burned it the stupid thing came back still in good condition. Stupid good Samaritans doing stupid good deeds. It would be nice if just for once someone let this book rot where they found it. I remember when I was younger I thought it was cursed or something. Now I just think its just rotten luck…

"Things change so much, I never expected change to hurt so much though." I said aloud as I opened up the album and looked at all the pictures. All of them despite the abuse the album went through looked fine.

Seeing pictures of me when I was younger and with _them _confused me. Here in these pictures I was happy but right now all I felt was anger; at them, at myself, at everyone. I stood up and walked over to the door; my hands started trembling as I walked. For some reason I couldn't do it, just looking at it hurt. Impulsively I threw it to the floor and I let out a frustrated scream; not caring if anyone heard.

Memories were not that easy to destroy even the good ones that bring up bad ones are the ones you are most attached to. To force yourself to forget the bad, you'll force yourself to forget the good and then you'll be nothing. You'll be nothing because you'll remember nothing. "Stupid…I can't believe I still remember him telling me that. I trying to erase him and he always keeps popping up like this…both of them." I snapped at myself, practically shouting. Right now I was too agitated to care if anyone could hear me or if Vince or Larmina came back.

Looking at the old album as if it were some kind of abomination I kicked it. I watched in satisfaction when it slid all the way under my bed. "I need some air…" I said when I realized that I was trembling with rage.

"With a temper like I think you'd need to stay outside for a couple of days." I heard Larmina's voice behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at her wondering how much see had seen. "I thought you'd be long gone."

She arched her brow at me. "I could hear you scream from down the hall. Is there anything wrong?"

"Like I said before Larmina there's nothing wrong with me."

"I'll try my best to believe what you said." She replied I could see she was studying me closely trying to find anything off. The only thing she could probably tell about me was how angry I seemed. "Anyway," she ventured giving up on her search, "Lance wanted to meet with you and Vince for some training."

That's weird how come she wasn't going? I looked past her wondering if one of the other were standing in the hall listening. "Why aren't you going?"

Larmina looked behind her curious of what I was gawking then looked back. "Keith needed to see me about something." She said smirking.

This was probably going to turn into Lance's revenge. Maybe I should go ahead and apologize before I got beat down.

_"I'm sorry are you alright?"_

_ "Don't apologize to your opponent Daniel even if it's just a short spar for practice. If it were a real danger then you can't say sorry when you knock your enemy out."_

_ "But…you're hurt I-I didn't mean to do that much damage."_

_ "You don't know you own strength yet take it easy. And your enemy wouldn't apologize if they killed you. Now do it again and give it your all!"_

_ "Right!"_

I suddenly yelped in pain, feeling Larmina had jabbed me in the ribs which pulled me out of my thoughts. Absently I rubbed them and gave her a dirty look. "Look I'm already in a bad mood today do you want to make it worse princess?"

Larmina narrowed her eyes. "Call me princess again and you'll get a fight."

I let out a laugh, it surprised me though. All day I'd been all moody and temperamental, a short laugh seemed so different. "I think I should head to Lance before he comes looking for me." Maybe smiling will keep everyone off my back.

Larmina smiled and nodded. "Yeah try not to hit him again 'kay."

"Whatever…" I replied as I left the room. Hopefully my light personality fooled her enough to make her back off. I just needed everyone to leave me alone until I could get my mind straight.

Would it work though? The sudden change from agitated to normal and happy certainly would through them off a little. I just wanted them to leave me alone, I needed to handle this alone.

….

**Larmina POV**

_Hm what's that? _

I noticed something lying in the middle of the floor. A piece of paper of some kind. I looked back at the doorway wondering Daniel had dropped it and was he going to come back for it.

I picked it up and saw it was actually a picture. "Daniel?" I said recognizing him in the picture. _Who are those other two guys he's with? Are they his brothers or something?_

The picture was of a younger looking Daniel, maybe about ten or eleven. He looked scrawnier and skinny in this picture and had longer hair that looked ready to be cut. Beside him was a young man who looked to be in his late teens with dark brown hair with his hand ruffling Daniel's hair. On the other side was another man who may have been a couple more years older than the other. He was standing beside Daniel looking very proud of something and had his hand on the boy's back. All three of them looked generally happy.

I frowned at the picture. No way they could be related he isn't even half as cute as those other two. I looked behind me again making sure he wasn't coming back and put the picture in my pocket. Later on I'd make sure to ask him about it later on.

….

Keith just seemed to want to interrogate me about Daniel. However I told him only what I knew, nothing. Daniel seemed even harder to read that usual. When I told him about the sudden change in mood, Keith seemed more concerned.

"You didn't notice anything else about him? He didn't tell you anything?" Keith asked for the probably third time.

I thought for a moment; then I remember how strange he was acting when Vince and I came in on him. He looked as if he were trying to hide something under the bed. "Well there is one thing that I thought strange." Keith gave me a look that told me to continue.

"WHERE IS IT!"

_He sounds pretty angry._

I thought nervously. Apparently Daniel had found out about the picture I took.

"Hey Daniel calm down man." Vince said as they both came in the room. I could see him holding on to Daniel's shoulders anchoring him a little but not enough to keep him still.

"Larmina I know you took it now give it back." Daniel snapped when he came closer.

I decided to play dumb for now, maybe I could hold things out until he calmed down. Talking to him while he was raging was like talking to a wildfire. "Don't know what you're talking about. Would you please be a bit more clear on what it is you think I stole?" I said looking away.

"I'm not in the mood Larmina now give it back!" he lunged forward however Keith managed to get in between us before a real fight could break out. I looked at Daniel trying to keep a confused expression. Weird for a moment I thought I saw fear in his eyes.

"Take it easy both of you. Daniel just back off okay and Larmina what's he talking about?" Keith asked struggling to keep both me and Daniel from trying to get at each other. He looked back at Daniel and gave her a harsh look. "I said back off Daniel!" he shouted.

Daniel stared at him for the longest time before he finally relaxed and backed away.

Vince put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Hey maybe it's in the room somewhere. You probably just need to look."

Daniel gave him a harsh look. "It isn't there…"

"Vince is right maybe you should check again before accusing someone." Keith said.

"Fine…" Daniel retorted before turning on his heel and stalking away.

I had to mess with him though, even if I would regret it later on. "Hey Daniel!" I yelled to him before he reached the door. He looked back over his shoulder with an expression of impatience. "Did this thing you claim I stole have two cute guys on it?"

He looked ready to break someone's neck. "You have it? You jerk give to me right now!"

I pulled the picture out and teasingly waved it around. "Here's the deal then," I said holding it behind my back, "you tell me who those two in the picture are and I'll give it back to you."

Daniel snorted. Fine I'll tell you."

I perked up, not expecting he'd willingly give in. This picture must have meant a lot to him then. "Really?"

"Sure." He said crossing his arms, "when Keith stops being a damper."

"Damper?" Keith exclaimed.

I frowned. "What?"

Before I could even react he snatched the picture from behind my back and held it out of reach. "Next time at least tell me when you want to snoop through my stuff." He growled.

"Oh come on I was having fun with that." I shouted. "Will you at least tell me who those two in the picture were."

Daniel backed away still keeping the picture just out of my reach. "Like I said before; I'll tell you when Keith stops being a damper."

Vince laughed despite the fact we were in the same room with said damper. "Larmina give up we all know that's not possible." He grinned sheepishly at Keith.

"What I want to know is why you two are making a big deal out of a stupid picture." Keith commented sounded labored.

Daniel looked suddenly offended. "It's not stupid!"

He jumped when the picture was ripped from his grip.

….

**Daniel POV**

I whirled around to see who took my photo and saw it was Allura. My face immediately grew hot. "Give it back." I cried out.

She glanced back at me. "It's confiscated for now, I can't return it unless it's agreed by the whole team that it's safe to return." I thought I could hear a note of teasing in her tone.

"It's just a stupid picture!" I snapped.

"Funny," Keith said walking over to stand with Allura. He smirked down at me and crossed his arms, "awhile ago you said it wasn't stupid."

Allura arched a brow. "I don't see why you acted like it was so bad if someone saw this."

"Yeah you looked so adorable as a kid." Larmina teased.

"I wonder what happened…" Vince

My face grew hot. "Shut up!" I shouted and managed to snatch the picture from Allura's hand. However she showed no anger when I did this, she didn't even seem to care I took it back. That was easy.

Keith ruffled my hair, I pulled away, it reminded me too much of back then. Today was not the day I needed to be around so many people, so many simple things brought back those old memories. I might need to sneak out or something later on. That's if Lance doesn't try to hold me hostage.

"Well," Alluea said breaking me from my thoughts, "whoever Aiden is he must have been a good friend to you. "

"Huh?" that threw me off. How did she know Aiden's name I didn't even tell her.

Seeing my confusion see took the photo and turned it around to show me a note written on the back. "He gives good advice, you should learn to remember it sometimes Daniel." She said smiling.

_'Being leader isn't taught and you aren't born with It and you can't earn it. Being a leader is learned. Power can't be taught and can't be earned it must be learned. You trusted me and I'll trust you if you can learn.'_

—_Aiden_

Is what it read.

Pain filled my chest at seeing those words. His words. Why should I care about what he tells me. He's gone anyway, he's dead anyway.

"Daniel?" I heard Vince call me name.

"Yeah…he was a good friend…both of them were…" I said slowly trying to keep my voice from trembling with anger. "Burn it."

I ignored their confused reactions to my statement and walked away.

"Burn it? But why it's something that belongs to you." I didn't know who said it but it didn't care.

"Burn it…" I repeated.

….

**Keith POV**

I picked the discard photo up off the floor. "He certainly didn't act like there was nothing wrong."

Allura put her hand on my arm. "The way he reacted to the name 'Aiden' I saw hatred in his expression. I think something may have happened that has to do with this picture."

Vince looked at the two of us. "No kidding he said he wanted to burn it."

"I think it's time one of us talked to him." I said.

I looked in the direction Daniel had stormed off. He sounded so upset when he said to burn the picture. There was something going and indented to find out what.

/

**Note: **_Kinda short if you ask me….then again I'm a bookworm so some things just seem short. Please tell me if I made any major/real bad grammar or spelling mistakes thank you guys. P.S. the other dude in the photo is named Nat. He and Aiden will make an appearance later on O.o_

**Next chapter: "I Know Nothing"**


	2. Chapter 2

**II**

**I Know Nothing**

**Daniel POV**

"If only they knew." I whispered to myself as I headed outside to get some air. Yeah if they knew they probably wouldn't let me away from the castle ever again.

"Daniel!"

I picked up my pace; I didn't feel like talking with Vince or anyone else for that matter. All I wanted to do was get away.

"Daniel wait up!" Vince called again; I could hear him approaching closer. He didn't seem to get my message so I sped up my stride. "Daniel what's wrong with you? You're starting to freak me out."

I stopped abruptly and glared at him. "Good now leave me alone."

"Something is definitely wrong with you now I can tell. Would you just calm down and tell me what's wrong." He said looking impatient. If didn't tell him anything he might go get Keith or Lance and those two would definitely keep pressing questions until they got the answers they wanted. I didn't want to go through hours of being interrogated.

"Nothing…" I said stubbornly.

"You only say that."

"Well nothing is in a way something."

Vince shook his head. "Are you really going to do it that way?"

"Yes and until you and everyone else leave it be that'll always be my answer." I replied smugly.

To my surprise he didn't try pressing the question anymore. Instead he just shrugged and walked away. "Okay I'll respect your personal space, I'll leave you alone then." Now I was thunderstruck, he dropped it quickly. I expected him to keep pushing it until he hit a nerve…and I hit him. "I think it'll be better if Keith handled your temper instead." He said before he turned his back on me to leave.

That was a relief but that last thing he said bothered me a lot. "What's Keith going to do about me?" I demanded; he wasn't able to stop me before what makes him think he'll be able to now.

Vince looked back over at me and then looked around before placing a hand on my shoulder. "Well if we can't get you to talk Keith will make it his business."

I yawned. "Am I supposed to be scared?"

"Actually no," Vince replied, "but you should be careful. Look I understand if this…'problem' you're having seems a little personal that's why Larmina and I won't bother you about it. The others probably won't be so understanding though."

"I realize that." I responded. My temper began to somewhat ease. That was two less people I had to worry about badgering me.

"If you keep being stubborn with them…" he trailed off.

My temper rose again. "What's Keith going to do?"

"Fix that attitude is one thing."

_The walls have ears would be something appropriate to say right about now._

I thought grimly as I turn to face Keith. You know I think I'm starting to suck at keeping things private if people keep coming up on me like this. "I don't have an attitude; just issues with people today."

"Really?" he said looking at me sternly, "if you'd just tell me what's wrong then you wouldn't be having these issues."

"Shut up!" I snarled, I couldn't take it anymore, I need to get away. Vince tightened his grip on my shoulder reminding me to keep my temper in check. "You think you'll make everything okay for me if you knew! It's not that easy Keith, it will never get better for me!"

"Daniel…calm down." Vince warned trying to pull me away. He probably didn't want a repeat of what happened with Lance today.

However I couldn't calm down, right now I just felt like yelling. It made me even more agitated that Keith thought he could make things better…but if only he knew. If only he knew how my life fell apart back then he'd leave me alone!

"Why don't you just leave me alone!" I knocked Vince's hand from my shoulder. "All of you just stay away from me! You can't help me and even if you could I wouldn't need it!"

"That's enough!" Keith shouted, somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I was causing a scene. I was acting like a little brat when they didn't get what they wanted.

I let out a short laugh that probably sounded insane. "Yeah I agree I've had enough…" then I began stalking away.

"Daniel what's wrong with you; I never seen you act this way?" I heard him ask.

I kept walking. "You think I'm going to tell you? Why should you even care?"

There was a long pause before I heard him say. "Because I know you're in pain Daniel…"

That took me by surprise but I didn't dare stop. I didn't want to show him that his words affected me. "Whatever…" I retorted.

….

**Keith POV**

"Maybe it's best you just stay away from him for awhile." Vince said.

"He's being torn apart." I replied.

"He doesn't want any help though."

That's what bothered me the most. He's acting so agitated and distant, it makes me really wonder what's wrong with him. "He needs it though."

I was about to go after Daniel when Vince stopped me. "Maybe I should go after him, after seeing that killer look in his eyes I thought he was going to strangle you. He doesn't necessarily want to be bothered."

"You're right," I replied though leaving it at that made me nervous. It made me feel that he was going to try something stupid. Like hurt himself, "but I still don't want him to think he should carry this by himself."

Vince arched a brow. "He'll put up a fight Keith if you try to help him."

I nodded. "Why, is what I want to know."

"You think there's a lot more to this?"

"Why wouldn't there be? I mean don't you think it's weird that one day a guy like is acting like his usual self and then the next day he acts like the whole world's against him?"

Vince seemed to agree because he was silent. "We should leave him alone and give him some time to cool his head. Maybe tonight or tomorrow he'll be calm enough to talk." He finally said.

It seemed like a good idea but I doubt Daniel's personality would change that easily after being bothered so much. It'd probably months before he tells any of us anything. "I don't know Vince, he wasn't just in a bad mood. He seemed really upset about something."

"Upset about what though?"

"I don't know I was hoping Daniel would tell me himself."

I thought I saw a strange expression on Vince's face. However it was gone before I could actually tell.

"I'll go get Larmina so she can help me get Mr. Grumpy back. Maybe after staying outside for awhile he's calmed down enough." He said.

I thought about it for a minute. "I thought would said it'd be best to leave him alone."

"Yeah I did," Vince replied looking a little nervous, "but who's to say he won't do something stupid like jump out of the tree…or a cliff."

"Good point." I said.

….

**Vince POV**

After grabbing Larmina the both of us were now walking through the woods trying to look for Daniel. I had seen him pacing along the tree line from the castle however when we got there he appeared to have gone in.

"We should just turn back, even if we do find him he's just going to be stubborn and refuse to come with us." Larmina said. I didn't blame her though, Daniel knew how to be bull headed. It would take time and patience for us to get Daniel to calm down enough to come back to the castle.

"Yeah but he'll get tired of staying out here sooner or later."

Larmina nodded and laughed. "The woods get a little scary a night too. I've been here when I was little and couldn't stop crying even when I was just at the tree line."

I laughed too. "I never thought you to be a scaredy cat."

"I'm not a scaredy cat!" she shouted.

"But you were."

"Shut up!"

I still had to laugh, however it was cut short when I heard a twig snap. Larmina seemed to have heard it to for she went abruptly tense like she did when ready for a fight. Another twig snapped to the right of us and I thought I saw a dark figure dart by. There was a low growl that came from a bush in front of us.

"What do you think it is?" I asked Larmina in a whisper.

"I don't know," she replied back, "but I don't think it's happy we're here."

There was another low growling this time it was louder and the bushes began to tremble. It didn't sound happy at all. "It sound big." I said in a trembling voice.

"Y-yeah." Larmina said as we began backing away in unison.

Then the bushes exploded and something lunged out. I don't think either of us got a good look at it because we both ran.

"It's following us!" Larmina shout looking over her shoulder. There were sounds of pursuit behind us.

"Predators chase prey that runs." I said unhelpfully.

Right behind me I heard it growl viciously. I felt it swat at my back and heard Larmina scream. Up ahead I could see the tree line; we were almost out of the forest! Sadly I didn't think we'll both make it out in one piece. The thing chasing us swatted at my back again nearly pushing me into the ground. I stumbled and quickly recovered but it slowed me down. Again I felt it swat at my back, but I was so close I couldn't lose!

Then I felt it tackle into my body; pushing me into Larmina and sending us both flying into the ground. It growled again and I shut my eyes, we were only a yard away from the tree line and then this had to happen. Something pricked the back of my neck then it pulled away and I heard laughter.

I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head to Larmina she looked shocked but quickly turned angry. She got to her feet and pushed Daniel into a nearby briar bush. "YOU JERK!" she screamed.

Despite being shoved into a thorn bush Daniel was still laughing. "That was hilarious, the way you two looked when I moved the bushes."

I rolled my eyes and dusted myself off as I got to my feet. "I thought I was going to die. Why would you do that?" I reached out with my hand to help Daniel up. A small smirk form on my face when I saw what a mess he was. He was covered in briars from head to toe and he didn't seem to care if he was bleeding.

"I had to do it," he said knocking a couple of the briars off, "it was too much of a good opportunity." He grabbed Larmina's arm and made the growling sound that the two of us we had heard.

She pulled away and turned her back on him. "Glad to see you're in a better mood."

Daniel grinned like a little devil. "Yeah especially after I scared you two."

"Well since you're not acting like pain in the neck are you ready to come back?" I asked.

He cocked his head and flicked another briar away. It was going to take a long time to get on of them out. "Yeah sure whatever just keep Lance and Keith away from me." If his tone wasn't so light and friendly I would have thought he was going to make a threat.

"I'll let them know to keep their distance." I said.

….

When we got back the others were waiting in the control room. I gave both Lance and Keith a look and gestured nervously at Daniel. He may have looked calm but if either of them said anything it would set him off. Getting my message they both reluctantly back away putting distance between them and Daniel.

"Want to tell me what you two did to Daniel?" Pidge asked when he noticed he was covered in briars.

"Long story." Larmina and I said in unison shooting dark looks back to Daniel.

Allura narrowed her eyes and Daniel said. "If they told you, then you'd know I deserved this."

She glanced back at Larmina and I then sighed. "Larmina you think you could help Daniel with this situation?"

Larmina looked almost smug. She was going to enjoy her payback. "Sure no problem I can handle it."

Daniel looked grim as Larmina grabbed his arm and began pulling him out of the room. He gave me a pleadingly look and I smirked and shook my head. "Sorry buddy." I mouthed.

When they were gone Lance came back over. "So what made him act normal again?"

There's the question that's been bothering me for awhile. "Maybe all he really needed was some air. Though he seems to still be holding a grudge against you and Keith."

"Then something's still bothering him." It wasn't a question; it was more like a statement. Like he knew that Daniel wasn't going to be okay. That bothered me too; Daniel is going through something and won't ask for help.

"So are you still going to bother him about it? You should have seen the way he acted with Keith, if you keep pressing him he'll go off."

Lance scoffed. "I'm not afraid to hit a little punk like him. He wants to fight me then okay I'll fight back."

"I doubt hitting him will make him respect you again." Allura commented.

"I better go see to make sure Larmina isn't trying to torture Daniel." I said, before I left I noticed something strange about Keith. He looked pretty grim; I guess Daniel wasn't the only one who has things on his mind.

….

**Daniel POV**

"Ow stop it!" I exclaimed, "ow!" I yelped.

Larmina smirked and cruelly pulled another thorn out. "Oops I need to be more careful."

"No kidding…" I muttered.

"You do realize that I'm not ever letting you live this down.

"Yeah I kinda figured that." I growled.

My thoughts went to Keith. He said that he knew I was in pain, was it just some way to get me to talk or did he really mean it? Did he really understand? He couldn't though; Keith doesn't know anything about me so he couldn't understand.

_Maybe he just cares._

Aiden cared too…and look what he and Nat did to you. Maybe I should just keep my distance with him for awhile just until I can calm down. I didn't think Keith would betray me but still….wait a minute. Why am I even comparing the two of them?

Keith couldn't be anything like Aiden. For two reasons one being Aiden betrayed me and I don't think Keith would. Two being the fact that I could never see Keith the same way I saw Aiden.

"Ow Larmina!" I yelped when she pulled another briar loose.

Just then Vince walked in, I gave him a helpless look but he chuckled and shook his head. He went and laid out on his bed and pretended not to notice my dark looks.

"It's your own fault," she said pulling several more out making sure every one of them hurt, "you said it yourself that you deserved it."

I laughed. "You're right."

For a moment I felt a little happy today. My head wasn't filled with agitated thoughts I wasn't so tense anymore. However the peaceful feeling didn't last long…

We were called back to the control room.

I could tell Lance and Keith were a little less comfortable now when I was around. They both seemed to want to keep their distance. It didn't bother me though, in fact in was actually for the best to me. I wasn't paying them any attention anyway I was still lost in my own thoughts. All I knew was that we; cadets were staying here yet again while they went off on a mission that might to dangerous for us. Bleh I hated when we were treated like baby birds.

I was yanked from my thoughts by the sensation of someone touching my shoulder. It was Keith. Great just the person I didn't want to talk to.

"Daniel…" he began but trailed off when I abruptly pulled away. I wanted to make it clear that I didn't want him near me. "Listen I know earlier I was a little noisy. If you didn't want to talk I should have backed off." He said.

Was he apologizing?

I heard him sigh. "Look you can stay mad at me if you want Daniel. I know I pushed it too far." When he saw I wasn't going to look at him and began to walk off.

I clenched my teeth and finally looked up. "Keith."

He looked back at me curiously. There was a surprised expression on his face.

"He might not want to talk to me so could you tell Lance." I trailed off.

"Sure Daniel I'll tell him for you." Keith said with a smile before walking away.

….

**Lance POV**

I arched a brow at Keith as he walk over. "That's weird I was expecting him to go off on you again when you said something to him."

He smirked. "Upset because he didn't punch me in the face?"

"A little." I fell into step beside him.

He looked over his shoulder at Daniel. "He's calmed down a lot but he still seemed kind of agitated. There are some things he's not telling us that I would like to know."

"Speaking of that," I ventured, "what exactly did he say to you?"

"He said he didn't want to tell you because he knew you'd still be made," Keith replied, "he wanted to apologize. It sounded genuine too, he sounded like he regretted how he acted. He also sounded almost…sad."

I stopped in my tracks, however Keith kept going. Danny apologizing? I didn't think he would after he seemed so temperamental today. Keith said he almost sounded sad; what was up with that?

….

**Daniel POV**

"You okay Daniel?" Vince asked.

I flashed him a weak smile. "I'm fine so what now?"

Vince frowned. "What does that mean?"

"It means what do you want to do while they're gone. "

"You've already gotten yourself on Lance's and Keith's bad side do you really want to make them mad?"

I snorted. "I'm not going to do anything stupid and they're the ones that got on my bad side."

….

**? POV**

"Sir the lions have left. The base is unprotected." I heard the solider say into the communicator.

I smirked this as perfect, the moment I've been waiting for. "Very good captain."

"Do we enter now?"

"Yes please do captain and make sure all platoons are active." I said

"Sir yes sir!" the captain replied.

I shut the communicator off for now. Later on I would contact the captain to check his progress. The Voltron Force would be in for a big surprise when they returned.

….

**Daniel POV**

We decided to head outside to go for a walk. After grabbing our voltcoms we head down to the tree line.

"So," Larmina was the first to venture, "are you okay now?"

To be honest I wasn't; today still wasn't a good day for me. But I had to lie to keep Larmina or Vince from pressing questions. "I guess I'm feeling okay…"

"Is that the honest truth?" Vince suddenly asked.

"Y-yeah." I said quickly because his question had thrown me off.

"Come on Daniel tell us what's really going on." Larmina pressed.

I hated being interrogated. "Do you want to get on my bad side as well?" I snapped.

"No…" they both said in unison.

I smirked smugly. "Thought so."

"What in the world!"

We all whirled around to see a group dark clad figures with guns trained on us. "We weren't told anything about a bunch of kids being here." A clad figure at the front said sounding very crossed.

"Who are these guys?" I muttered.

"I don't know but I don't like them…" Vince replied.

The clad figures stood there tense; unsure what to do with us. Apparently they didn't have orders to shoot three kids.

The clad figure at the front walked off to the side but his friends still kept their weapons train on us. "Sir," I could hear the one guy say into what looked like a communicator. "We have a bit of a problem."

….

**? POV**

"A problem captain?" I growled.

The captain sounded nervous as he spoke. Obviously know my distaste. "Yes sir we found three youths near the castle. I believe them to be the Voltron Force's novices."

"Novices you say?" I didn't know they had students. This changes everything then; I smiled. The Voltron Force will definitely be coming back to a surprise.

"Sir what should we do with the children. Do you want them dead?"

"No captain." I said. "There's a change in plans, capture the children and bring them here. We will hold them as prisoner and use them as bait for their mentors."

….

**Daniel POV **

I had been watch the other clad figure speak on his communicator the whole time. Though I only heard bits and pieces of the conversation. Larmina and Vince were too busy keeping an eye on the other soldiers.

"Guys…" I whispered so only they could hear me, "they plan on taking us captive we have to get back to the castle to get a warning out to Voltron. I have a feeling the mission they went on was a fake."

Larmina nodded. "Just tell us when."

I waited until the other soldier came back other. He pointed the gun right at me. "You're coming with us all three of you show us your hands."

I did as he said and Larmina and Vince followed when example. I let the soldier take another step closer. "Now!" I shouted as I kicked the guy in the leg and tackled him into the ground. All three of us quickly fled before any of the soldiers cocked their guns and began shoot.

Behind us I could hear their angry shouts and they sound of gun fire. Vince looked at me as we ran. "What do we do when we get inside?"

"We send head to the control room so we can send a message." Larmina answer before I could.

"Yeah that's if we don't get caught first. We're going to be having a hard time getting there." I began to slow down.

Vince and Larmina slowed down as well seeing what I saw too. Right in front of us was another group of soldiers coming right at us. These guys didn't have guns with them, instead they held some type of sticks that had an electric charge running through them.

"What do we do?" Vince asked.

I studied the soldiers coming at us and looked behind us at the ones in pursuit. We wouldn't stand a chance in a fight with so many of them. "We try to run around them." I said as I began running again.

The soldiers coming at us all stopped at once, confused that we were headed straight for them. I made a sharp turn and began to run past them. Realizing what had just happened the soldiers began chasing after us.

"We're almost there!" I shouted to Larmina and Vince.

We had to get to the castle Voltron had to be warned. I had a bad feeling about these guys, if we got caught then it be over.

/

**Note: **_I didn't feel like making it longer so *puts sunglasses on* DEAL WITH IT BRO_

_I refuse to say who the stranger was. You will have to wait_

**Next chapter: "Ready, Set, Go!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Voltron Force!...wish I did though…**

/

**III**

**Ready, Set, Go!**

**Daniel POV**

Finally we had made it inside.

However didn't mean we were safe. I could hear the sounds of marching and soldiers communicating with each other in the halls. We had to be careful if we all wanted to get to the control room.

"Guys be careful they might know we're inside and if we get caught then it all goes downhill." There was no telling what these people were going to do to us once they caught us.

"This way." Larmina said when we saw a group of soldiers turning down the hall we were in. Vince and I followed her through hidden door that lead into one of the passageways. Above us the soldiers were exclaiming their surprise.

"I thought I saw them here!" one of them shouted.

"Well maybe you're seeing things now come on we need to find them before they can call for help."

There was a long pause before I could hear the sounds of them walking away. The three of us look at each other and sighed all at once. "Alright when we get to the end of this passage it branches out three different ways we should each take a different tunnel to see where it leads." Larmina said as we began walking. I looked over at Vince he didn't seem to like the idea of us splitting up as well. Seeing our unconfident expression Larmina added. "If either of us find away that'll take us to the control room we'll come back and wait for the others. There's strength in numbers."

It sounded like a reasonably good plan. I nodded to show I was on board with it. "Okay so lead the way princess."

"Don't call me princess." Larmina said.

I laughed despite the situation. It was better to look on the bright side of things anyway. The soldiers didn't know where we were so that meant we were safe. But we were also short on time, there was no telling what would they were doing up there. We had to get to the control room before they could and ruin our chances of contacting the others.

While we walked every once and awhile we'd hear the soldiers march around. They were still looking for us. Why though, they eventually had to give up right? No one could be that persistent.

"I know it might not be the right time but…" Vince said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a picture. I glanced at it and saw it was the picture that Larmina had taken. When Vince pulled it out I saw she looked down.

I raised my hand to take it then dropped it to my side. "I wanted it burned…" I told him in a emotionless tone. He winced and took a few steps away when he saw my temper flare.

"It's yours we couldn't burn it." He replied.

"I don't want it anymore!" I snapped.

Vince flinched away and Larmina backed away as well. They had already seen how unstable I could be when I was angry and they didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. Why wouldn't they just leave it alone? There are some things in my life that shouldn't ever be bothered by someone else. Keith and Lance learned that about me the hard way. It didn't matter how much I snapped at them though, they kept pressing it.

It's because they care Daniel. What you're doing to yourself is scaring them, worrying them. They just wanting me to be okay, to stop being in pain. I remembered what Keith had said about knowing that I was in pain. Aiden and Nat cared about me too but they betrayed me.

It wasn't fair though. What happened to me in the past, I shouldn't act so cruelly to my friends just because of that day. I shouldn't let it make me turn against them.

I sighed and came to a stop. "Okay I'll tell you..." though I couldn't tell them everything. If I did I'd be reliving that day. The day that left me scarred for life.

"Really?" Vince asked in surprise, "I mean you don't have to Daniel, I said we would respect your space."

I shook my head. "No it's okay I think you have a right to know why I'm acting like such a jerk today."

Larmina stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on my arm. They were serious; they knew the situation I was going through was hard on me. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"It's alright I mean it."

I sighed this was harder than I thought. "Those two in the photo; they were my friends and they were like my brothers too." I began, "Their names were Nat and Aiden."

Larmina and Vince looked at each other in concern. They could hear the note of sorrow in my voice. It was a pretty touchy subject they were getting into. "They were the type of people a little kid wanted to look up to. I had so much respect for them and one day my view on them changed."

There was a long pause; my voice had caught in my throat. I stared at the ground not sure why I even decided to tell them this. "Daniel…what happened to them?" Larmina asked.

"They betrayed me…" I managed to choke out, tears began to fall. It hurt too much to think about it. "They betrayed me and almost had me killed. I trusted them both, they were like my brothers and then they turned their backs on me." I didn't care that both of them could see me crying.

Larmina stepped closer she was shocked. Neither of them had ever seen me cry like this before. They probably always thought of me as the cocky trouble maker. "What did they do to you?"

I shook my head, I couldn't say. "That's all I can tell you."

"Daniel what did they do to you that left you so scarred?" she asked in a soft voice.

"No." I replied wiping my eyes, "look we have to get going anyway. If we're going to get a message out to the others we need to move now."

She still looked worried; however she didn't ask me anymore questions. Instead she hugged me which took me by surprised. When she let go she gave me a weak smile and walking down the tunnel. I shot Vince look just in case he wanted to say anything about me crying but he didn't

"You okay man?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah…I'm…okay," clenched my hands into fists, "come on."

….

It was several minutes later before we came to the places where the passage split in three different ways. The whole time all three of us had been dead silent. I was pretty sure that Larmina and Vince were still trying to digest what I had just told them. They knew something but not the whole truth and even that little bit stunned them. If only they knew what had happened to me, they'd be scared of me.

Larmina was quiet for a couple of seconds after looking at the tunnels for awhile. "I'll take the right okay?" she declared looking back at the two of us.

We nodded and Vince said, "I'll take left. You okay with taking the straight tunnel?" he asked me.

"Yeah." I found was all I could reply with.

They both gave me concerned expressions before they went their own directions. I stood there and waited for a long time. A couple tears began to trail down my face again. It still hurt; I never wanted to open that much to either of them. I trusted them but it still felt as if it made it worse to tell them.

_Pull it together Daniel you can't let this cloud your mind. You need to calm down and focus on what's going on now._

I wiped my eyes in frustration, I felt like screaming but knew if I did it might alert the soldiers and make Larmina and Vince think I was in danger. Sighing I headed down the path in front of me. Funny I thought you were suppose to feel better after telling your friends about something that's been bothering you.

….

**? POV**

I was pacing back and forth waiting to be contacted about the mission. The wait was starting irk me. How hard was it to catch three stupid children?

My communicator made a sound indicating that I was being contacted. "Was the mission a success captain?" I asked impatiently. It had been an hour since the last time he contacted me. He should have been able to apprehend them with in mere minutes.

"Er no sir we haven't—" I heard him nervously reply.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU BOTHERING TO CONTACT ME!" I roared.

I snorted in disgust. Right now I was thinking of firing a couple people. These fools how can they fail something so simple. All I asked of them was to capture these children and they haven't made any progress. It's been an hour and they haven't caught them, they were right there in front of them too!

"Sir." The captain spoke timidly into the communicator. "we're trying our best."

"If you were trying your best then those brats would be captured! The Voltron Force will return there soon after they find out the mission they're out on is a fake!"

"The children are only hiding. I have my men searching every corner of this castle for them." The captain stuttered into the communicator. It annoyed me that I could hear a pathetic note of fear in his voice. "If we can't find them in the next two hours we'll have to demolish this place."

That's last thing I needed. "No I said to bring me the children alive."

"Sir it be what we have to resort to. If we can't find them then we'll have to assume they're either hiding or have escaped."

I growled. It would be better to have them alive. "Very well if you cannot find the children not only destroy the base. Have a little extra fun as well, have your men pillage Arus. Make sure Voltron comes back to a nightmare."

….

**Daniel POV**

"I didn't find anything." I said, "just two other tunnels that branched off. One of them was just another way to the tunnel you were in Vince."

We had just come back to give our reports on what we found.

"Me either; mine led to a dead end." Larmina answered; coming up empty handed as well.

"Well we might have to check where that other tunnel lead," Vince suggested. "It made take us somewhere."

I nodded. "it's worth a try."

We had only began walking through the middle tunnel for a few minutes when we heard an explosion. The floor trembled and dust fell onto us. I snuck forward wondering what the heck caused it. "Daniel don't!" Larmina called out and grabbed my shoulder. "We don't know what that was."

"Well I want to find out what it was then!" I shouted and began running down the tunnel. Having no other choice they followed me. When I came to the spot where the tunnel spit again. In one of them I could hear sounds; like people walking. Dread began to rise at me when I realized that there were people down here with us. "Guys…we're in trouble…" I said when Vince and Larmina came up behind me.

"Their down here with us now?" Vince asked fearfully.

Just then two soldiers emerged from the tunnel. When they spotted us they looked behind them and called to their companions. I looked over at Vince. "That answer your question?"

The three of us quickly darted down the other tunnel.

"Get back here!" one of the soldiers called!

"Yeah right!" I shouted back over my shoulder. Up ahead I could see a shaft of light. There was our exit!

I picked up speed; yes I could see it for clearly now that I was getting closer. It looked like some kind of grate; if we could move the bars then we might be able to get out. We might be able to contact the others after all. When we got closer I dropped into a slide and skidded all the way to the grate. After standing up I used my voltcom to try and cut the bars. The noise it made concerned me though.

Larmina and Vince came over a few seconds later both out of breath. "Daniel what are you doing?" Larmina asked.

I didn't answer until I got all the bars out. However it took too much time the soldiers were coming at us fast. "Hurry!" I shouted.

I let Vince go through first then I looked at Larmina gesturing for her to go. She shook her head. "No one of us need to hold them off Daniel. You and Vince need to get to the control room." She said stubbornly.

"Larmina no it's too dangerous you'll never take on that many!" I shouted.

"it's never stopped me before now go!" she replied pushing me through the grate. I looked back at her in worry.

"Be careful…" was all I could think to say.

She looked back and nodded.

….

**Larmina POV**

I watched him go, as he went I couldn't help but to think of the way he looked earlier. He looked so sad and so in pain. Whatever happened to him it must have been pretty bad. I've never seen him cry before.

"Freeze!"

The soldier's command made me look up. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. "You really think I'm going to listen to what you say?"

I wasn't able to act to smug because I felt something hit me in the back. It caused me to stumble forward. The pain it caused was like being hit with lightening. I recovered quickly just in time to whirl around and see several soldiers standing there with the electric sticks. My thoughts of dread went to Daniel and Vince. They were probably in worse danger than I was in right now.

Immediately I tried to use my voltcom only to find it didn't work. My mouth dropped open, it should be fine. Some of the soldiers chuckled. "What's wrong kid can't use your little trick. I bet you just thought these things were meant to just hurt you." One of them said snidely. "Now you can't pull anything funny on us."

"So you idiots think you've left me defenseless?" I retorted clenching my hands into fists.

"There's two that are still loose." One of them said and a couple of them ducked through the grate to go after Vince and Daniel. I only hoped they would be long gone by now and in the control room where it was safe.

I couldn't use my voltcom but that didn't mean I still couldn't fight back. While they didn't have all of their attention on me I made my move by kicking one of them into the chest. He fell back onto two of his companions. While they were distracted I wasted no time in ducking through the grate and taking off down the hall. "Bye now!" I called over my shoulder.

I didn't get far enough though. Right in my path was a group of the soldiers standing there to meet me. They were starting to become more numerous. I came to a stop and turned around only to find myself trapped.

"No…" I whispered.

….

**Daniel POV**

"You think she'll be okay?" Vince asked as we were running.

I bit my lip. "I hope so…"

These soldiers were everywhere now. They had managed to come after us in the tunnels which meant we had no real place to hide. All we could do was run.

"This way!" Vince shouted as he pulled me into a nearby alcove. Seconds later several soldiers ran by. We waited for a long time before coming out.

I sighed. "Thanks if I didn't see them coming we would have been in huge trouble."

Vince smiled. "No problem." I paused for a moment and did a 360 of our surroundings. "I recognize this hall. If I'm correct there's a hall that leads to the right which should take us to the control room." He said with a scowl. "Follow me!"

I chased after him without hesitation. Something bothered me though, and it was bothering ever since we started headed to the control room. I've always pushed it aside ignoring it until we could get there but now it was gnawing at me now. What would happen after we got to the control room? What could we even do, the soldiers would definitely still be here and I doubt they'd just want to leave. "Vince what happens after we get the message out to Voltron?" I asked with rising dread. So much for looking on the bright side Daniel.

Vince was quiet for a long time, he turned sharply at the next hall on the right. "We keep running."

"And if that doesn't work?" though I knew I would hate the answer.

"We're dead then…"

"Lovely," I replied with dripping sarcasm, "that sounds worse than what I thought."

Finally we came to the door that led into the control room. Both of us shared a relieved expression, we were almost safe. If the soldiers didn't find this room we could get a message out to the others without interference. Behind us we could hear the soldiers marching closer to where we were. Our hope began to plummet, they were gaining on us.

Vince quickly opened the door and shoved me into the room. I was about to turn give him a dirty look when I saw the determined expression he had. It was the same expression Larmina had when she told us to go on without her. Now Vince was about to go.

"No." I said grabbing his shoulder and digging my fingers in so he would at least listen to what I had to say. He only winced but didn't pull away.

"Look you need to do this Daniel. Larmina saved us some time now I'm going to save you some time." He said sounding completely stubborn.

I shook my head. "Vince there's more of them now it's like they're everywhere now. You won't be able to make it." I tried to talk some sense into him. Funny it was usually him doing that to me.

He smirked. "I need to pull a 'Daniel' so I can distract them and give you enough time. It's time I did something a little brash wouldn't you agree?"

I sighed and gave him a weak smile. "So I guess that means I'll be pulling a 'Vince" or would it be a called a 'Larmina'?" I joked.

"We're going to call it a 'for once smart Daniel' move." Vince said crossing his arms.

I laughed. "Whatever…" I muttered.

Vince nodded and turned his back on me. I stood there for a minute as I watched him walk away. My thoughts went to Larmina, I wondered if she made it out okay. There was no telling what could have happened to her. With all these soldiers around it was hard not to think she was capture. I couldn't let Vince go out there alone.

I stepped away and ran to catch up with him. He looked back at me with a frown. "Daniel if we stick together then there's no way we can get that message out. Go back."

"Vince this is crazy you don't know their numbers they'll overwhelm you. If you get caught then what'll happen? And if Larmina' s caught too then it'll be just me and I don't know if I'll be able to hold them off."

He hesitated for a second knowing that I was right. Then he shook his head and grimaced. "It's our only chance though Daniel. If we're afraid to make sacrifices like this then we might as well all be dead."

I sighed, this is probably what it felt like when he was trying to talk me out of something. Much to my annoyance my thoughts went to Aiden's quote about leadership. You have to learn it. I looked down pushing those thoughts away. Finally I looked back up. "You sure about this?"

"Yes," Vince replied looking determined again, "don't worry it'll be fine."

_"Don't worry Danny it'll be fine."_

"_I don't like it, something isn't right about it."_

_ "There's nothing wrong it's safe. Do you trust us?"_

_ "…I guess so…"_

_ "Daniel do you trust the two of us?"_

_ "Y-yeah I do…you promise nothing bad will happen."_

_ "Of course we promise nothing bad will happen. And if something does happen you know Nat and I will protect you."_

"Liar." I said in a whisper.

Vince looked a little stung and confused at my response. "Daniel I'll try to distract the soldiers long enough for you. You're fast anyway I don't think they'll be able to catch you awhile." He assured.

It didn't help the rising dread though. I nodded numbly. "Try not to get killed I need to thank you later."

Vince smiled and flashed me thumbs up before running off. I stood there for a few seconds still feeling a bit numb. Those words still echoed in my head, back then they were so persuasive and warm. Now they just sounded cold in my head. _Nat and I will protect you._

I smiled and looked down at the floor. It made me almost want to laugh like a madman. "You said you'd protect me…but you ended up trying to kill me." I whispered, "Why do I keep remembering you? I thought you were supposed to be dead…"

The sounds of shouting pulled me from my dark thoughts. I shook my head to clear it, there would be time for brooding over those bad memories later on. That is we were all alive later on. I began headed back to the control room. Vince was trying to by me some time; it would be smart to use it. I didn't want what Larmina and Vince did to be in vain.

….

**Vince POV**

I was running down the hall that I had heard the soldiers in. They hadn't noticed me yet so I decided to attract their attention. "HEY!" I shouted at the top my lungs. They all looked up and trained their guns on me.

Now that I had their attention I turned around and began running the opposite direction. Behind me there was gun fire, I could hear the bullets hit just behind my heels. Apparently these guys just had orders to capture me they didn't care if any of us got hurt. That was bad, that meant anything could happen to me. I had to be careful and keep a lot of distance between me and them.

More gun fire rang out and a bullet whistled my head. "You idiot the boss want them alive! If you kill him and we all get in trouble I'll kill you myself!" I heard one of the soldiers snarl obviously they saw how I had ducked to the side. As I was running I saw another hall I could turn into. Quickly without thinking twice I turned nearly running right into the wall in the process.

"Quick stop the boy!" someone shouted as I ran past a few surprised soldiers. I forced myself to run faster not sure if they had guns or not. Even if they didn't I still didn't want to get hit with one of those staffs that had electricity in them.

Up ahead I saw two soldiers step out in my path hoping to stop me. I braced myself, there was no way I was letting them stop me. They didn't have time to brace themselves though, they thought I was going to stop and turn back. Instead I tackled straight into them sending them into the ground.

Electrocuting pain suddenly filled my chest. I didn't dare let that stop me though, the minute the two soldiers hit the floor I got up and began running again. The pain was horrible though I could barely focus on what I was doing and there were stars dancing across my vision.

I dove into a hall that would hide me for awhile and slumped up against the wall. My skin was still tingling but my head was beginning to clear. I was glad that I had the strength not to black out. Hopefully I was providing enough of a distraction for Daniel. Right now all I need to worry about was not getting caught and perhaps leading the soldiers farther away from the control room.

"Keep walking kid!"

I tensed up for a second I thought I had been found then I realized it was coming from down the hall. "Let me go you idiots!" I heard Larmina shout. Yes it was getting closer now, it was definitely coming from the other hall. Carefully I prowled to peer around the corner and I saw a group of soldiers walking in a ring formation to keep Larmina from getting away. The ones in front of her were carrying guns while the ones in the back were carrying the electric staffs that were all trained on her.

"Shut up little girl!" said the one walked beside her, holding the staff he was carrying threateningly close to her face. I grimaced at the sight of it remembering the pain it cause when I was hit. Larmina must have been hit before to because she tensed up when she looked at it.

I backed away when they came to walk by. Luckily none of them noticed me however Larmina caught sight of me. She shook her warningly when her captors weren't looking. I clenched my fists and backed away even more. The soldiers went by without seeing me and I waited until they were farther down the hall before I decided to follow. I needed to follow them to see if I could help Larmina.

"Little girl?" Larmina began teasing again, "if I'm such a little girl then how come you have so many big strong men escorting this one little girl." She said.

"I said shut up…" the soldier growled.

"Why don't you tell your boy scouts to leave so we can fight one on one if I'm such a little girl. Or are you scared?" she teased and apparently she had hit a nerve.

"I said shut up." The soldier snapped driving his staff angrily into her ribs. Larmina let out a gasp of pain and immediately went limp, the guards in front of her caught her and began dragging her along. The power of the staff must have been pretty strong for it made a loud snap when it hit her.

….

The soldiers were now outside and I still followed them. I was concerned about Larmina she had been out cold for a loud time. When I had been hit it nearly had fallen out myself, maybe it depended on how hard you were hit. I shook my head, that didn't matter right now, right now I needed to find where they were taking Larmina. If I could find were she's taken Daniel and I could comeback for her, that is to say we both weren't caught as well.

"There's only two of them left." I ducked down behind a rock when one of the soldiers began talking. After they had moved ahead a little more I follow curious of what this conversation had. I might be able to learn something useful about them.

"I've heard about that," another soldier spoke, "Squad H almost caught one of the boys but he escaped. Captain just about popped a vein when he heard about that."

"What about the other one?"

"He seems to have disappeared or something. No one's seen him since they've left the tunnels. It's like he's disappeared from the radar completely."

"The boss isn't going to like that…"

"Yeah no kidding, if he finds out we're all dead."

Good Daniel hasn't been caught yet. They haven't gotten into the control room. "The captain has ordered him to be killed."

"Killed what for?"

I stopped in my tracks. Daniel killed? That didn't sound good maybe he wasn't so safe; I slowed down wanting to hear more but the soldiers had stopped talking. Obviously they were taken by surprise at that as well. Finally another one of them spoke up. "Captain believes he's gotten in contact with Voltron and warned them about what was happening. He wants him killed from it now. I don't care it's one less we have to worry about subduing."

"How can he be so sure though?"

"It's doesn't matter. Even if he didn't captain still wants him killed. There's no telling where he's been hiding or what he's been doing. Besides," the soldier said sounding very amused. He even chuckled coldly, "I think his friends would enjoy the little gift they find when they get back. We're also being merciful by not kidnapping all three of them."

Then they all laughed. These guys were cruel, they were insane, they're laughing at the thought of a kid getting killed. I hesitated thinking about heading back and making sure Daniel was still alive but I needed to find out where they were taking Larmina. Hopefully Daniel will be fine.

I followed them down to the woods. Feeling a bit more confident from the several trees in the area I moved closer. Larmina was still out showing no signs of stirring.

"I'm not about this choice the captain is making. I mean killing the kid and leaving him here to scare the Voltron Force."

One of the soldiers laughed. "Will burn the body then."

"Not that part," the one who spoke first replied, "I mean I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of their revenge."

The soldier who laughed at him snorted. "They'll have to find us first."

That was the flaw in our plan. If we were taken then how would we be found? Now we definitely had to stay away from these people and I had to get to Larmina. How could I though, they outnumbered me and I didn't want to get hit by those things again. I could still feel the dull pain of it from last time.

It was a few minutes later, the soldiers arrived at a place where four ships were hidden in the woods. Much to my distaste there were several guards around many of them armed with guns. I ducked behind one of the trees and watch as they took Larmina on one of the ships. It was too risky to board the ship as well; I didn't know where I would go even if I managed to get past those guards.

"Well, well," before I could turn around I was hit in the back. I crumpled to the ground whimpering in pain and looked up to see a soldier standing above me. Even though he was wearing a helmet I knew he had a smug smile, "what do we have here?" he grabbed me by the arm and began dragging me along. I struggled to get away only to be reprimanded by being hit with the electric staff which stunned me.

The guards came over to investigate when they saw me being dragged over. They chuckled and prodded me with their feet. "Take it easy he's alive not a dead cat…" said the one who caught me.

"So this is one of the two the captain wanted captured? Where's the other boy have you killed him?" one of the guards asked.

I managed to lift my head weakly. That shock was still effecting me. None of them were paying attention though.

"No I haven't found the kid yet…"

I choked out a laugh and they all looked down on me.

"Something funny brat?" one of the guards asked.

"Actually yeah," I replied, "how can you kill someone you can't find?" I regretted that comment. The soldier with the staff jabbed it into my side. I was knocked to my side as the electricity went through my body. The whole time he kept it connected with my body making sure I felt the most horrible pain ever. Then finally he took it from me and I went limp.

He dropped to one knee and chuckled. "And you can't protect someone when you're in danger yourself…" with that said he rose his staff and jabbed it into my ribs. Once more I was overwhelmed by the pain and I slowly began to faint. I could still hear his laugh.

….

**? POV**

"Sir."

I sneered when I heard the captain on the communicator. The last few times he only checked in to tell me bad news and about his pathetic failures. This time he better have made progress, he was working my last nerve. "You better have something good captain if not then you and you men better start praying." I snarled a reply.

"Actually sir we do have news," the captain answered confidently, "we have capture two of the novices."

What an improvement. "Excellent, what about the third one?"

"We believe he has made contact with the Voltron Force. I have ordered my men to kill him on sight."

Kill the boy on sight? I thought about it for a moment, it certainly sound reasonable. "No," I said finally deciding something, "let the boy live."

"Sir?" the captain sounded confused.

I sighed. "I have some things in mind for the boy. He will learn that it was a big mistake. Tell your men to capture him like the rest is that understood?"

"I understand…"

I turned off the communicator and studied the floor for a long time. "What are you thinking?" I heard a new voice ask me from behind. I turned to face the newcomer with a cocky smirk.

"You'll see soon enough." I brushed past him, "Will you handle Voltron Force for me?"

He crossed his arms. "What do you mean handle them?"

"Lead them here."

"For the boy?"

I smiled. "Yes as part of his punishment for calling for help. He made things even more difficult than it had to be. If only he and his little friend had turned themselves in."

….

**Daniel POV**

I could still hear soldiers outside. They sounded like they were coming closer to the door. "Look in all the rooms!" I backed away from the door nervously and went over to the computer.

It was frustrating, I never actually used the thing so I didn't know what to do. There was a loud bang at the door. "Someone's in here they've locked it somehow."

"You think it's the kid?"

I bit my lip I needed to figure out how to work this thing.

Finally I figured it out, I don't know how but I managed to. It took all my self-control not to cheer. I managed to get in contact with Keith and he looked very impatient.

He must have known something because the minute he saw me he asked. "Daniel is everything alright there?"

Behind I heard another loud bang. Looking behind me I saw soldiers flooding into the room and pointing their guns at me. Several more came at me with electric staffs. I looked back at Keith with a fearful expression. Keith listen you have to get…" my words were cut off by my scream of pain.

"Daniel?" I heard Keith cry out.

I fell to my knees feeling as if I were hit by lightening. Looking over my shoulder I saw eight soldiers with their staffs all pointed at me. My eyes widened and then hit me again all at once. Stars danced across my vision, the pain threatened to make me black out. Again I felt them hit me. Then again and again I felt the pain course through my body. There was a coppery taste in my mouth.

Through my blurred vision I saw a figure walk up behind them. "He's a fighter…but his body can't take much more of this. Hit him a couple more times if that doesn't work kick him in the head."

"Voltron will…stop you…they'll find you…" I said weakly, my body was threatening to shut down on me. It couldn't take much more of this, I wouldn't be able to fight the pain anymore. I coughed. "Y-you won't…you won't get away…with this." I snarled.

The man snapped his fingers and the eight of them hit me with their staffs again. I gasped in pain, it hurt so bad. It felt horrible, I couldn't take it anymore, I finally gave in.

It was over…

…..

**Keith POV**

"Daniel!" I shouted when our connection was cut off. "Daniel what's wrong?"

We had just found out the mission was just a lure to get us away from Arus. Allura was pretty agitated right now. Wanting to reassure her everything would be fine I contacted the cadets at the castle. When I saw the look on Daniel's face I knew everything was far from okay. The cadets were in danger.

"Keith what's wrong, what did Daniel say?" I heard her ask frantically.

Now I was agitated, I gripped the controls tightly. When I spoke I tried to keep my voice calm. "The cadets are in trouble, I just got a distress call from Daniel. We need to get there quickly."

"What's wrong?" Lance asked sounding even more tense than I felt.

"I don't know I sounded in pain. I heard him like someone had attacked him. The connect was cut before I could see who." I replied.

I only hoped we could get there in time.

….

"Daniel!" I called out when we were in the castle. It was scarily quiet right now. Allura pushed past me angrily and began headed to the control room. She never looked so mad before so we all chose to stay out of her way.

I followed her silently, she was already looking at the security footage. What I saw was disturbing. It showed the cadets all being chased by these strangers in black clad uniforms. What was even gruesome was watching them take them. They were all taken so easily, all while we were gone and they left with them just as easily.

"What do we do now?" Lance asked forcing himself to look away.

I had to look away as well. "I don't know…we don't know where they took the cadet they could be—"

"So we can't save them?" he shouted in rage.

"Lance calm down." Allura intervened before one of us could start a fight.

"Why should I?" Lance snapped, "We can't find the cadets for all we know they could be dead!"

Allura gave him a harsh look. "Lance just calm down and look at this." She said gesturing to the screen. "Someone left a message for us."

A dark screen came up, I couldn't make out anyone though. "Hello Voltron Force," came a cool snide voice. "I'm sure you're all wondering where I dragged your little friends aren't you? Well if you want to then follow these coordinates."

A set of coordinates appeared on screen. "You better hurry though my boss gets impatient." The screen changed showing all of the cadets lying unconscious on the floor of some kind of cell. "I also tend to kill off prisoners on accident. You want them back alive? Come and get them…"

/

**Note: **_I think I scared myself with that ending…_

**Next chapter: "Like Cage Lions"**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Voltron Force**

/

**IV**

**Like Caged Lions**

**Keith POV**

We wasted no time in analyzing the coordinates.

While everyone began talking about how we were going to get to the cadets I noticed that Lance had walked off. I frowned wondering what had him so tense.

I followed him out into the hall. "Lance?"

He looked back at me in surprise. I smiled came closer. "You okay you're starting to make me worry that some of Daniel's attitude from this morning rubbed off on you."

He sighed. "Now I know something's really eating him up from the inside. Did you hear what he said?"

I knew he was referring to the footage that had showed Daniel…crying. It surprised me too, I never seen him that sad. "Someone tried to kill him…" I said remembering how gruesome the words he said sounded.

Lance punched the wall. "After I get him out for there…I don't care if he even stabs me I'm going to demand that he tell me who did this to him!" he shouted, "I will find who hurt them and make them regret ever living."

"Take it easy Lance." I put a hand on his shoulder but he threw it off.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry," he muttered, "I'm just confused that he never told us this problem."

It bothered me too. "Maybe some things are just too painful to talk about. He's still a kid Lance he's scared."

"He should know there are people there to help him though." He replied.

I smirked. "You're acting pretty concerned for him. "

Lance gave a short laugh and looked up. "Daniel's the kind of guy you can really connect to. Don't lie to me Keith I know you feel the same as I do."

"You're right Lance…but I can't let my anger get in the way." I said turning my tone serious. "We need to focus on saving the cadets and we can't do that without a clear mind."

He clenched his hands into fists. "But this guy is crazy…he'll kill them Keith. We need to move fast!"

"I know but we can't jump into this unprepared."

Lance leaned against the wall and went to join him. "I guess I'm just mad because we didn't see this coming. We were tricked and they kidnapped the cadets."

"I don't like it either…and I'm not sure if he was serious about killing them if we didn't get there fast." There was no promising that when we got there they'd all be okay. Which is what had my concern, we didn't know their motives.

"They're just bait…" Lance responded bitterly. "They're using them to lead us into a trap of some kind."

"It's not the trap that I'm worried about though." It was what they were going to do to the cadets that bothered.

….

**Daniel POV**

I groaned; my body was still throbbing from those multiple hits I had taken. Sometimes I wish I weren't so stubborn. Then again what was fun about just letting people have their way that easily? A wave of vertigo overcame me and I shuddered. I felt horrible I didn't want to open my eyes.

It felt better to just stay asleep, at least I could forget my pain. I slipped back into sleep; wanting the throbbing in my body to just stop. Right now I didn't care where I was all I wanted was to rest.

"Wake up."

A loud voice echoed. The voice jerked me out of my sleep. I looked around my surroundings as everything came back to me at once. We were kidnapped…and I had no idea where we were. Looking around I noticed something else; I was alone. Vince and Larmina where nowhere to be seen. I was chained up and below me I could see water. I could tell it must have been freezing I could feel the cold coming up from it. The chains holding me swayed, I gave the cold water a nervous look. It wouldn't be fun to fall in there. I was already sore now, it would make it worse if I fell in.

"That's right…you don't want to fall in there boy." The voice said again, it sound as if it were coming from some type of speaker system.

"What is this?" I asked surprised by how weak my voice was.

"I've used this method to get answers I want. Sometimes even to torture or…even punish." The voice replied in an amused tone. "Do you know what you did to deserve this?"

I looked up from the water. "I don't know you so I can't see anything wrong I did to someone." I replied trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

They laughed. "You nearly ruined my plan by calling for help…"

The chain lowered abruptly. I yelped and closed my eyes but the lowering stopped. Opening my eyes I saw that I was dangling closer to the water. My heart was beating in my chest, I didn't want to know how that cold it would be. The voice cackled at my fear. "Why do this to me now? You've already kidnapped us and no one knows where we are!" I shouted. "I don't know why me calling for help even matters!" As if to reprimand me for my outburst the chain jerked lower.

"Simple minded little boy," the voice continued and the chain lowered some more. I strained to lift my legs up so they wouldn't hit the water. "I…have my reasons for doing many things. Consider yourself lucky I can do so much worse." The chain finally stopped lowering me. Down below may have been about eight to ten feet.

I whimpered and shuddered, the cold was even worse now that I was closer to it. "No…" I whispered the chain swayed and I immediately went still.

"Don't worry I won't kill you, just rough you up."

"No!" I shouted when the chain released me down into the freezing water. I only just managed to take a breath of air before I broke the surface. It didn't help much though; the water was so cold that it stung! I wanted to just scream in pain the water had me shaking uncontrollably. It was so bad that I thought I was going to throw up. I could taste blood in my mouth. Then it was over, I was being pulled up out of the water slowly. When I was out of the water I gasped in a breath which quickly turned into a cry of pain. It felt even worse than the water, the sudden change in temperature took even more of a toll on my body. I coughed and gasped still trembling from the cold.

The voice came back on the sound system. But I was only paying half attention to it. "Had did you enjoy your little swim? I hope you did because we're going to be doing this for a long time."

I shook my head with a pleading expression. That was horrible and I did want to go through it again. The voice laughed and once more I was let go into the water. My body screamed in pain and I wished I could just die. It was that excruciating to me. The water was too cold I could barely hold my breath. Even if I took in air before I hit the water it didn't seem to matter because it only made it hurt worse. It felt as if I were held under water longer than the first time. Just when I thought I wasn't going to black out I was slowly pulled out of the water. Once again I was cringing at the change in temperature. I gasped in air trying to ignore the pain and enjoy the air I was getting before I had to go back in.

This happened over and over for the longest time. I was thrown in the water many more times to endure the horrible torture. No matter what I couldn't hold my breath each time I tried it only made everything worse. Then it would be worse not to, I didn't want to drown, not in this freezing water. Sometimes I'd be dropped abruptly without me expecting it and water would threaten to make me black out. My gasps for air turned into sobs and pleading. And then finally it was over…

The chain lifted my trembling body back up. There was still a horrible bloody taste in my mouth. I couldn't tell if I were crying or it was just the water running down my face. My skin was too numb so I couldn't tell. "You looked exhausted I believe that's enough for now." The voice spoke over the sound system. The chain lower me to the floor where there were a couple of soldiers were waiting.

I couldn't talk, everything hurt and I felt dazed. I didn't even fight when the soldiers came to drag me away. They dragged me into another room; someone came over. I couldn't tell who it was, my mind was in too much of a daze. Everything seemed so far away.

"Cold wasn't it?" they asked I recognized it was the voice I had heard when I was being tortured. I struggled to clear my blurred vision trying to see their face but I felt too weak. It felt difficult to just lift my head. My body was just too weak to do anything right now.

"Wh-why?" I managed to hiss out. Even just saying that one word took away too much energy. It hurt so much.

I realized why I couldn't see him, I was starting to black out. Stars and smudges of red were dancing across my vision. I heard them laugh. "Sweet dreams…" then I lost consciousness.

….

"Daniel?"

"He's freezing cold…"

"I know and he hasn't woken up since they brought him in. You think he'll be okay?"

"I don't know but I hope so. I don't know what they did to him but it must have been pretty bad. If he doesn't wake up soon…"

"Don't you even say it!"

I whimpered and opened my eyes, I winced at the bright light that shined down on me. It was hard to remember what happened to me, all I could remember was being in agony. My mind that full of holes the past events were like vivid dreams. Then I saw Larmina looking down on me. She smiled when she saw that I was awake.

"Vince he's awake come over here." She said.

I winced her voice echoed loudly. "Larmina keep your voice down." I heard Vince say as he walked over.

A few minutes later the two of them helped me sit up against the wall. I got a good look at our prison. It was made up of strange smooth metal walls that showed our distorted reflection. This place seemed fairly air tight. A bright light on the ceiling was the only light source I could tell was in here. "Daniel," Vince got my attention. I looked down at him with a blank expression, I didn't know why I felt so numb. "What did they do to you?" he asked. I probably looked horrible.

I shook my head. "I…I don't know I can't remember what happened." I replied surprised that I managed to get words out. "Everything that happened it's just a huge jumble it's too hard to focus on the real."

"When they brought you in you were knocked out and freezing cold." Larmina said sitting down beside me.

"I still am cold." I said wrapping my arms around myself.

I watched Vince pace around. He looked agitated. "They'll never find us now."

"You don't know that Vince they might be on their way right now."

They were talking about the others coming to rescue us. "Larmina how can they come to save us? They don't even know where we are, we don't even know where we are! We're going to be stuck here forever!" I snapped.

They both looked surprised at what I had said. It sounded so negative, I sounded hopeless like I was sure nothing good would happen. I knew nothing good would happen with how horrible I felt I knew we would be stuck here forever. They both moved away from me probably recalling my horrible temper. Immediately I felt a little guilty I never meant to snap at them. Instead of apologizing I turned my back on them and rested my head on top of my knees.

"We're going to get out of this Daniel…" I heard Larmina assure.

I sighed and nodded though it didn't matter to me. It occurred to me why I was being so negative, why I thought none of this was going to be okay. They had broken me, I had been broken turned into a hopeless mess. I didn't care though it didn't matter to me anymore. "This thing were in," used one arm to gesture to the cell around us. It didn't even seem like a cell; more like a box or a giant crate, "I don't see any exits! There's nothing we can do but sit here!" I abruptly stood up and charged at one the walls.

"Daniel don't!" Vince warned as I ran past him.

I used my voltcom claws and struck one of the walls as hard as I could. The second I hit it a loud echoed a horrible sound. I stumbled back and cover my ears, the sound was overwhelming. Then finally it stopped, I looked back sheepishly at Vince.

"We have to come up with some sort of plan if we want to get out." He said, "Larmina and I already tried getting out our voltcoms are useless."

I rubbed my head. "Well you got yourself a plan?"

"No not yet…we were waiting until you got here." He replied.

I walked over to where they were. They both thought we could get out of here but I didn't believe we could do anything. At least it was worth a try.

…

**? POV**

"What you did to him could've killed him."

I snorted and glared at him. "The captain said that he was a fighter. He'll be okay I had a medic look at him, they said he'll be out for awhile."

He shook his head. "We need them all alive if we're going to get Voltron here. We'll only kill them if we have to." He prowled closer I looked away from hi having a feeling he could read my thoughts. "What did you want Voltron here for anyway?"

"I have many reasons for many things." I replied.

He laughed then it worked at my nerves. "So you think you can leave it at that?"

"Yes." I said in a neutral tone.

"When Voltron arrives to rescue their cadets what do you want me to order the soldiers?"

"Let them find where they are imprisoned, make them think this will be easy. Then when they are overconfident about escape we separate them."

"And what are we to do with the children now?" he asked me.

"Leave them," I said, "that special cell they're will hold them. That cell has no cracks in it, they'll be running out of oxygen. We won't touch them, if Voltron wants them alive they better hurry."

….

**Lance POV**

"I wonder who as such a grudge on us." I commented while piloting red.

"Whoever it is, hit us pretty low. Kidnapping the cadets to get our attention…" Pidge replied.

"They knew we would come after them," Allura added, "if we don't hurry then it won't matter. They'll hurt the cadets if we don't get there soon."

That's what made me sick, there's someone out there who doesn't care what they do to a bunch of kids. Allura was right if we didn't get to the cadets then whoever was holding them captive might just kill them. I clenched the controls tightly at thought of it. "Keith if it's a trap what do you think we should do?" I asked. Though I wasn't sure if he would be much help. He's been completely silent since we had left the castle. I thought I was the one in the bad mood but he seemed to have become introvert.

Nothing. He was still silent, I was about to ask my question again when he finally answered with. "If it's a trap then there's nothing we can do but stay on our toes."

"I don't like it…" I muttered.

"Neither do I there's something strange about this. They made it sound like it was a trap, there's something more to this."

"Meaning?"

Keith sighed. "I don't know I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Bad feeling?" I didn't like the sound of that.

"Lance something isn't right." He said.

I was silent I didn't know what to say about that. Finally Allura spoke up. "You think it might be about something much more?"

"Exactly…" Keith replied.

"Well I hope you're wrong about this bad feeling." I added in to the conversation.

There was a long pause before Keith said. "Lance."

"What?" I asked.

"Just watch your back when we get there. It may not be the cadets they want us to worry about." He said.

"It might be us?"

Another long silence. "It hasn't been the first time people wanted us dead."

….

_This can't be right…_

The coordinates had led us to the middle of nowhere. Nothing was there, no planet, no nothing. Anger boiled down inside of me. This had to have been another trick, they were trying to keep us away from the cadets. I was seconds from swearing every word I knew.

"It's cloaked." Pidge said abruptly my anger went down.

I frowned. "How do we land on a cloaked planet?"

"I believe I can answer that question for you."

I recognized the voice as the same one from the message. Before us the planet rippled into existence. "You can land safely Voltron hurry though time's running out for your cadets."

"What are you planning?" Keith demanded.

The stranger laughed, he sounded insane and disturbed. I cringed at the sound; he couldn't be in the right mind. "That's something that I know and you will find out shortly."

I hated that he sounded so amused, like he thought this was a game. My anger rose again. "Why let us come here? Usually people like you wouldn't want to be found.'

"If you wants the kids back alive then you better come and find them. Like I said they're running out of time. Tic tok."

The connect went out.

….

**Daniel POV**

"Vince." I shook him, he looked like he was about to nod off. Not a good idea in a air tight room. It made me think he was about to fall out on me.

Just when I thought the torture was over, it showed to just be beginning. At first it started out with Larmina getting a headache, then Vince and I started to gain headaches as well. Now the headaches were getting worse and it was becoming harder to breath. We were all sitting around trying to keep each other awake. It felt so tempting to just fall asleep.

It wasn't any better for me either. I was still cold and it hurt so much to move around, but that's what I had to do to keep myself warm and to stay awake. Fearing how they would react I didn't tell Larmina or Vince how I was feeling. If they knew how many times I saw the room tilt and swirl they'd get all worked up. I couldn't let them get concerned even if it was at the cost of me dropping dead right now.

The lights in here were making it worse. They seemed so much more brighter now and it was killing my head. I leaned against the wall I was by and closed my eyes just for a brief moment. We haven't managed to come up with a plan yet and right now it was hard to even think straight. I began to slump down and quickly opened my eyes so I could stand. This was bad I needed to stay awake.

"We're not going to last much long in here." I said aloud. It was looking on the downside but it was true. If we couldn't get out of this then…

I let the thought trail off.

Larmina stood up to keep herself awake. "We won't get anywhere thinking like that. There has to be a way to get out of here." She said trying to encourage me. It wasn't working though.

I punched the smooth wall only a dull thud echoed and even that made my head throb. "If there was a way out we'd be out of this stupid box!"

I was right, she knew I was right. This thing was sealed up completely, no soldiers came to check on us so we didn't know if there was even a door! We were being tortured right now, whoever was holding us captive wanted to make sure we suffered. My spirit was already broken though which meant they could do anything to us and I knew I couldn't do anything about it. Very faintly in the back of my head I could remember the water torture. I shivered at the thought of how cold that water was. It brought the coppery taste back to my mouth.

"Daniel…" she began but I noticed something else. She must have seen my look of alarm for she tensed up.

"Vince!" I shouted I ran to my friend he had collapsed. The room seemed to tilt violently I gasped and fell to my knees everything looked so distorted.

Larmina came up behind me to help to my feet. Together we stumbled over to where Vince was. After shaking him a couple of times we finally got him to wake up. "You're right Daniel…." Larmina said in a weak voice. She looked like she was getting worse. "we won't be able to take much more of this…"

/

**Note: **_Short chapter! Anyway I was going to make three and four a double update but changed my mind. Ch. 5 and 6 will be double updates. Thanks for reading guys and anyone have some hot chocolate for poor freezing Daniel?_

**Next Chapter: Oxygen: Part 1**


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: **_I promise this chapter will be longer than the last!_

/

**V**

**Oxygen: Part 1**

**? POV**

"You can't keep pushing them to the limit like this…"

"Oh you're back…" I muttered while looking at security cam feed of the cadets in their prison. They were running out of air quickly one of them had already collapsed. "It's just my way of telling Voltron that they should keep their kids on a leash…"

He snorted. "What use is a ransom with three corpses?"

"They'll get to the children before they run out of oxygen." I said impatiently, "If they don't then we'll have to change plans."

I could tell from the way he walked up behind me he wasn't happy. I wasn't happy about it either but it seemed to be the only way to bring everything together. Looking at the security footage I could see where my plan could have several flaws. It would take a shorter time for the three of them to run out of air. If Voltron took too long then we would have to take the children out of there and bait them some more.

"What if we fail?" he knew not to ask that question, I could hear the fear in his voice. I grimaced at the thought of failure.

"Trust me…" I finally said looking in contempt at the screen. "This plan will not fail."

….

**Keith POV**

"Greetings Voltron…"

The voice was coming from a PA system.

I paused for just a moment and looked back at the others. They all were as tense looking as I was. When we enter we had expected an army waiting for us but to our surprise no one came after us. The only problem we had now was the fact we didn't know where the cadets were being held. Now our little friend was back.

Lance made an aggressive statement. "What do you want now?"

"All why the sudden attitude? You do realize my help could be the difference between life and death for your little students." The stranger said sounding smug.

I gave Lance a warning look when he said that. We needed this guy to continue to lead us to the cadets. If we upset him then we'll never find the cadets in this place. Lance snorted and looked down at the floor. "Where are they?" I demanded in a calm tone.

"In the cell blocks down stairs," the stranger gave the information too easily. Now I definitely knew that this had to be some sort of trap. "I'd hurry if I were you though." A hologram screen flickered into the air. There they were; the cadets. They all looked tired and weak, something was wrong with them. Before I could ask the voice suddenly said, "The human body survives on oxygen, without it then slowly they begin to die. Tik tok Voltron tik tok…" he said darkly.

"Monster…" Allura muttered.

He laughed. "In a way I guess I am…I've also provided a little challenge for you." Behind us a platoon of soldiers marched in and aimed their guns at us. I knew that this couldn't be that easy, there had to be something funny about this. He wasn't going to let us rescue the cadets and just leave. "If you all can get to the kids without dying then they're all yours. You also need to hurry they look ready to pass out."

The holo screen went out and as if on cue the soldiers took fire. We all hit the floor to avoid being hit then began to run. Several thoughts were reeling through my head. We could save the cadets if we could save ourselves but this guy was acting as if this were a game. It was disturbing. Seeing the cadets look so weak and pitiful only made me even angrier at whoever kidnapped him. If I didn't get the chance to strangle the freak who did this then I can count on Lance to.

"We need to find a way to get to the cell block!" Lance said as he came up beside me.

I clenched my teeth, we had another problem there. We didn't even know how to get down to the cell block. Even if we did then it must be guard heavily. A bullet flew over my shoulder; grazing my face. I winced at the pain. "If you mean a safe path then I doubt that'll happen." I growled in frustration. "This guy will probably have a whole army waiting for us in there!"

Up ahead several soldiers came charging straight at us with staffs. I came to a stop and looked at Lance. "You want to fight?" I asked him arching my brow. He smirked.

"What do you think?"

I looked back at Allura. She looked like she wanted to argue, she knew I what I was doing. "Go ahead and go rescue the cadets Lance and I will handle these guys."

She looked nervous when she saw the number of soldiers. Lance and I couldn't take them all on but we could hold them off of the others and make it easier for them. "Keith no…"

"We'll catch up," I assured her, "…I promise."

She gave a reluctant nod and ran off with the others.

"Don't let they get a chance to use their weapons!" a higher ranked soldier commanded as the ones with staffs closed in around us. I recalled from the security footage that the staffs had a dangerous electric charge in them. Warily I backed away and looked over at Lance.

I dodged out of the way when one of them lunged at me. Thinking quickly I used my voltcom sword to lunge back. To my surprise the soldier was fleet footed. At the corner of my eye could see Lance was also having the same problem. These soldiers weren't just trained for heavy combat they were trained for deadly stealth. One of them jumped away and tried to dive behind me; I whirled around just in time to parry his strike. I pushed him back and side stepped to avoid being struck from behind again by two soldiers behind me.

"Lance!" I shouted dodging again. They were all trying to come at me at once. "They're going to overwhelm us we need to run!" I parried two soldiers and the same time and knocked their feet from under them. They both stumbled into a comrade behind them. I dodged around a couple of soldiers and saw an opening I could take. We could retreat.

"A little busy here." Lance grunted in reply he was being backed into a wall by several soldiers carrying staffs. I ran to assist him and forgot to watch my back. A horrible pain travel up and down my spine and I collapsed unto my hands and knees. I quickly got to my feet and turned on my heel only to find I couldn't use my voltcom. Dread began to rise in me, the soldier chuckled at my expression and stabbed forward into my gut. Electricity jumped though me and I cried out on agony. I stumbled backwards trying to clear my head. We had to retreat right now. Before I could turn to see if Lance were okay I felt myself get struck again from behind.

"Keith no!"

"Get the other one!" a soldier shouted.

My reaction time was getting slower. Two soldiers rushed me and stabbed their staffs into my side and once again I was knocked to my knees. Lance was thrown down beside me looking as anguished as I felt. "We're in deep buddy…" Lance muttered grimacing in pain.

I managed a weak laugh. "Well we did manage to hold them off for awhile."

The soldiers swarmed around us and trained their staffs at us.

"Stand down dogs!" someone commanded.

Abruptly the soldiers lower their weapons and backed away from the two of us. They murmured nervously to each other I couldn't tell what they were saying but I could tell the person who made the command made them anxious. "Move aside…" they all retreated back to let someone by. They were approaching the two of us with contempt.

He kneeled down and smirked smugly at my face. "What do we have here? Ah yes you must be here to rescue your little friends." He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled. I grunted in pain through gritted teeth.

"They better not be hurt or I swear you will wish you were never born when I though with you." I growled a threat.

He snorted and let me go then glared over at Lance. The two of them locked stares for a long time before he stood up and kicked him in the ribs. Lance groaned and struggled to sit back on his knees. "Only a coward would kick a man while he's down." He spat.

The man glared back with dark green eyes that sent a chill down my spine. There was something strange about them. "I will chose to disregard that…but only because I believe they'd be happier to see both of you alive." He snapped his fingers and once again the soldiers closed around us. "Cell block 12 keep an eye on them."

The soldiers trained their staffs on us again and grabbed us pinning our arms behind us. We didn't dare fight not wanting to be hit with those staffs.

….

The soldiers pushed us into an elevator like room and took us down. Once we were down to the cell blocks we were forced across a catwalk. As we were walking something caught my eye. It was a large cube shaped box labeled cell block 12. The cell that we were headed to. I looked over at Lance and gestured with my head toward it. That had to be where the cadets were being held. He nodded in agreement. The soldiers threatened us with their staffs when we slowed down.

"Keep moving…" one of them growled.

"What's in there?" Lance asked.

One of the soldiers held their staff close to his neck. "Shut up and keep moving."

Lance gave me a look and I said. "All my friend wanted to know was what's in that thing. It seems a little big to be a prison cell wouldn't you say?"

The soldier struck me in the back with the staff and I grunted in pain. My vision momentarily blurred. "Shut up and keep walking prisoner."

Lance and I meet eyes. "Speaking of prisoners," he began with a mischievous glint in his eyes. The soldier tightened his grip on his staff. "what about the cadets? What does your boss have in plan for them?"

"That's classified information…" the soldier said dully.

I wanted to see if I could weasel some information out of him. They'd have to get tired of hitting us sooner or later. "Classified?"

"Yes…"

"You don't make much for conversation do you?"

The soldier held his staff close to me. "Keep your mouth shut."

"What about the kids you took?" Lance asked.

There was a long pause between the soldiers and they lowered their staffs. For a minute I thought they were going let us go. After a long moment one of the soldiers finally spoke when he did he sounded very grim and empathetic. "More than likely they'll prove to be perfect candidates. Then they'll be trained to join this army." For the first time I noticed that he sounded really young. Like he was a teenager or something.

Lance looked at me then asked. "This army…what's so different about it?"

The soldiers tightened their grips on their staffs and muttered nervously among themselves. Then one of them looked over his shoulder. "We really shouldn't tell you…just keep moving…"

"We just want to know what will happen to them." I said.

"They'll be recruited."

"You must be pretty young yourself kid," I replied, "what happened to you?"

"My past is not a happy one but now all that matters is the present I live in now." He said in a bland tone.

Lance smirked. "Sounds like something Daniel needs to learn." He muttered.

_No kidding_

I thought. He was living completely in the past.

….

**Daniel POV**

_I was staring up at the night sky. The only light was the moon when the clouds would move from it. From the way the air smelled I could tell it was about to rain. In the distance there was thunder and a couple flashes of lightening. I always liked coming out here just to feel the cool breeze. It felt better than being forced to stay inside. Thunder clapped loudly overhead and the rain smelled stronger._

_ "Danny?"_

_ I turned around and grinned at Aiden. He and Nat wander over to where I was."What do you two want?" I asked curiously._

_ Aiden shook his head and tucked his hands in his pockets. "Your mother is going crazy looking for you. She told the two of us to come looking for you, little kids shouldn't be out in a storm like this."_

_ I shook my head. "I wanted to come out here to clear my head."_

_ They sat down on either side me. I looked up at the stormy sky again and closed my eyes when there was a strong breeze. Nat reached over and ruffled my hair. "You're a strange little kid Danny boy. I never knew an eleven year old could talk like that." He gave a short laugh._

_ I playfully knocked his hand away. "Is that a bad thing?"_

_ "Nope." Aiden said laying on his back, "I actually like that about you Danny. You're different, you're not afraid to act differently."_

_ "…Thanks." I said feeling my face grow a little hot. "Is that why you chose to teach me?" the question was something I always wanted to ask him. Aiden looked over at me with a lopsided smiled. It made me jealous that he could look so cool. _

_ "Something like that." He said._

_ "What does that mean?"_

_ He laughed. "You're a special kid Daniel I guess I just saw something in you I liked. So how about we go inside now before one of us get hit by lightening." _

_ "Aw come on let me stay out here a little longer!" I said flopping onto my back. A small rain drop hit my face but I chose to ignore it. _

_ "Your mom is going to kill us." Nat said._

_ I closed my eyes. The two of them wouldn't take me back home yet; not until I was ready. They knew that I enjoyed staying out here and they'd sometimes chill out here until I was ready to go. Nat and Aiden were like my older brothers they'd always cover for me and I'd cover for them. Aiden chose to "train' me. He taught me to defend myself and everything and I looked up to him. _

_ Another rain drop fell and I opened my eyes. Up in the sky I saw lightening flash and heard a loud clap of thunder. That storm was starting to get closer. I never stuck around to see how bad it would get and I wouldn't stick around now. A couple more drops of rain came down and I got to my feet. Aiden gave me an amused look. "Done playing outside?" he teased and I pushed his shoulder. Chuckling he got to his feet and began walking away. Nat and I followed behind him._

_ "So what do you have planned for me tomorrow?" I asked both of them. Nat looked over at Aiden skeptically. _

_ Aiden just shrugged. "We'll be working on defense still." He said._

_ "Your reflexes are still kind of slow. You need to learn to be faster." Nat added sternly. I hated working on defense. They always told me I needed to be faster, that speed and stealth would help me defend myself. _

_ "Aw come on don't make that face Daniel!" Nat said putting me in a head lock. "You need to know this stuff kiddo."_

_ I managed to pull out of the headlock quickly. Nat gave me an impressed look, they'd always challenge me every once in awhile just to see if I were paying attention to their lessons. They'd been my sort of brothers/teachers ever since I was six. I've always been trained by them, they looked after me. _

_ The rain began to come down a little harder. I smirked. "How about a race?" I offered. Aiden looked back at us curiously. Nat met eyes with him wondering if he wanted to race or not. He looked thoughtful then finally nodded._

_ "Alright then," he said and we all stopped. Aiden scowled trying to figure out how far away from home we were."Okay I can see the lights from here. You sure you want to try to run all the way there Daniel?" he asked giving me a look._

_ "I'll be fine." I assured him. _

_ He looked over my head at Nat who said. "Oh come on Aiden he's a big boy now I'm sure a little run like that won't hurt."_

_ Aiden finally nodded. "Okay then," he said looking very sly. "Ready. Set…" _

_ "Go!" Before I could know what was going on Aiden pushed me back playfully and he and Nat took off running. _

_ "Hey!" I shouted indignantly and took off after them._

….

I woke with a start realizing that I had dozed off. My head throbbed and I sat up to see if Larmina and Vince were alright. They both looked on the verge of passing out as well. I pushed myself to my feet and stumbled into the wall. "Someone…anyone…help!" I gave a weak shout.

I knew that it was all in vain.

The air felt even thinner and I still hadn't warmed up. It was starting to get worse; we were running out of air fast. My legs trembled threatening to collapse under me. "Hey Aiden, Nat…" I murmured quietly. I didn't care if Vince or Larmina heard me talking to myself my head was swimming too much. If they did hear me and if we ever got out of this then I might as well be ready to explain, "are you happy you'll finally get what you want? Finally I'll die…" I said that last part quietly.

Larmina looked up weakly. "What was it that they did to you?" she asked. It worried me how much she had heard from me. "All you said was that they betrayed you. You never said what they exactly did."

"I can't tell you anything else…" I stubbornly replied and leaned against the wall for support. It really wasn't a good time to talk about my dark past. Especially when we were slowly dying from lost of oxygen.

"Daniel…"

I let out a weak laugh. "Why should it matter to you anyway? We're going to die in here so you shouldn't care I do and don't tell you guys!"

"Daniel just calm down you're only going to make it worse on yourself." Vince broke in.

He was right, the angrier I got the more energy I wasted. Energy I needed to stay awake. I covered my eyes with my hands; the light made them feel sore. "Some things are just so bad…that it's impossible to talk about." I said to Larmina.

She had a reason to keep bugging me like this. It was to keep me awake and to make sure I wasn't passing out. We all were too weak to stay awake so we made sure to keep each other awake by talking or working each other's nerves. Anger; it was a good sign when you were running out of air. It reassured us that we all still had enough energy to snap at each other.

I had to admit it was working. It gave me a little extra shock of energy but it also took a toll on my body. I only felt lively when I felt this shock of anger but then it was gone too quickly. Much to my surprise and annoyance I found that thinking about my past with Nat and Aiden also kept me going. I didn't like the fact that they were kind of the thing that was keeping me alive. It was pretty ironic though since they're the ones who wanted me dead in the first place. My mind went back to the water torture; even if it was hard to remember; it was still painful. The feeling of the cold water and how hard it was to breath. I felt helpless and I couldn't do anything but let them do this to me. Right now I was feeling helpless again and somehow I felt responsible for Larmina and Vince being dragged into this. I felt that was my fault that we were trapped in this thing.

Not wanting them to see my face I turned toward the wall. Everything was going horrible today. It started out with these stupid memories coming back like they always did every year! Now we're stuck in this prison with no way to escape! I balled my hands into fists, I wouldn't cry not right now this wasn't the time to cry like a little kid. Vince and Larmina already had enough to worry about and I didn't want them to start worrying about me. I finally managed to calm down enough after a few seconds. Sighing I turned away and slide down onto my back.

I felt a wave of vertigo past over me. The room started to tilt and swirl again and I gave a frustrated shout and punched the floor. It was horrible I was angry and I was in pain. There was nothing I could do, nothing we could do. We were stuck in here and the force has no idea where we are! Why did they believe in the false hope that we were going to get out of here? I stopped my rant when I realized how negative and helpless I sounded. Maybe it was probably the fact that death could be close that was making me so angry.

Staying here was driving me crazy. It clouded my mind too much and I couldn't think straight. "How can you be so sure that we're getting out of here?" I muttered.

Larmina and Vince shared a look. "They've always been able to get to us in time. I think they'll be able to find us this time too." Vince replied.

My spirits flickered a little, he was right they'd always managed to come for us. Maybe…just maybe they found out where we were and were on their way. The thought was reassuring. "If they are coming to rescue us they better make it quick." I said leaning back against the cool wall. "We're running out of time."

"We'll just have to endure it and hope we'll be able to get out of here soon."

I wouldn't let my hopes get too high at the moment. We were still stuck in here and were still running out of air. There was a chance that they would come too late, but I wouldn't say that aloud. I was afraid it would come true if I did. My vision blurred again and I closed my eyes. I couldn't stay awake, I wanted to rest.

…

_"Hey that's cheating!" I shouted as I struggled to keep up with both of them._

_ Nat looked back over his shoulder with a smug smirk on his face. "You're the one who wanted to race, I don't recall you laying down any rules!" he shouted back to me._

_ I made a face and pushed myself to keep moving. This was like a test, I needed to learn to go faster. I needed to go faster, they were always pushing me to. _

_ "Come on I know you can keep up better than that!" Nat egged, "Danny run faster!" _

_ Aiden was far ahead now while Nat was hanging back to coach me. Once I started to pull up past him a little he picked up speed. I pushed myself to run faster. It always bothered me why that wanted me to be faster sure it was for better defense but I didn't understand why for anything else. Shaking the thoughts from my head I began to run faster until I was right behind Aiden and Nat. Aiden looked back at me and smiled. "Keeping up soldier?" he asked arching a brow._

_ I nodded. "Just fine." I told him in a cheeky tone. _

_ We made it back in a few minutes. _

_ "You're getting better." Aiden said as we walked in the rain. He ruffled my wet hair and gave me a playful push. "Better than when you first began." _

_ "Thanks." I said with pride. I always liked it when Aiden praised me._

_ "Come on Daniel." Nat said grabbing me by the shoulders and began steering me in a certain direction. The rain was now coming down a lot harder, it made my skin crawl. "Your mom is waiting for you at home. I'm pretty sure she'd be relieved when you got home."_

_ I groaned. "Why can't I stay out here a little longer?"_

_ "Because I don't want to be at the mercy of a mother's rage when she's worried about her kid." Nat replied blandly as he picked me up and put me on Aiden's back. _

_ "And I don't want to see this storm get worse." Aiden added._

_ I gave him a cheeky grin. "So about tomorrow?" I ventured. They said they'd be working on my defense but that could mean anything. It could be stealth, reaction, or just defense in combat. _

_ Aiden looked over at Nat who was smirking then said. "You'll see…"_

….

**? POV**

The cadets were starting to black out more often. I studied the footage of them laying around. Every once and awhile I'd see them shift where they were sitting or stand up and begin walking around. Time was running short for them. I was debating if I should let them out or not if Voltron couldn't find them in time.

"What was the point in having two of them imprisoned?"

I sighed. "I have a special game I'm playing."

He muttered something under his breath. I could tell it made him nervous when I didn't tell him anything about what I was planning. "They'll be in there with the children though."

"Like I said…" I began impatiently, "I have a special game that I'm playing."

….

**Allura POV**

_I hope they can handle themselves._

I thought about Lance and Keith. They had taken on all those soldiers alone just to let us get through. I hoped that they managed to get out okay but at the same time I felt a rising dread inside.

"Where do we go from here." I said looking around a corner. There were soldiers prowling around holding guns. They looked like they were guarding the entrance to the cell blocks. A couple minutes later four soldiers with staffs came over. I could hear their conversation.

"The boss says that everything is coming into plan. If you see the others contact him."

"Sir yes sir." Said one of the soldiers who were guarding the door to the cells.

The four soldiers looked around and tightened their staffs. I looked at Pidge and Hunk motioning for them to back up. We all shuffled backwards fearing that they would see us. Moments later I heard the soldiers walk away. I waited before moving back to the corner.

"I heard that two of them have been captured. What do you think the boss is planning to do with the Voltron Force?"

"You know the boss has a twisted mind…"

"Yeah I know but what about the brats?" surprisingly this soldier sounded like a female. "They seem like perfect candidates for the army. You think the boss will have them recruited?"

One of them laughed. "He does seem interested in them but I doubt they'll make it to be soldiers. The boss probably has other plans for them."

"Yes but that's the same thing we thought about you." Said the female soldier and the soldiers laughed with her.

Pidge frowned. "What are they talking about?" he whispered. I shook my head not too sure myself and I wanted to find out. Keith and Lance had been caught, I wanted to know if I could find out any information from these soldiers. Not only that I was curious of what they meant about recruiting the cadets?

The female soldier spoke up once again. "The boss wouldn't get rid of them; especially if they have such potential. Maybe we can even sick them on Voltron if the boss hasn't killed them himself yet."

"I'm sure he'll let them see their little lap dogs turn on them."

I didn't like the sound of that. We needed to find a way to get past them and to the cadets quickly. I backed away to think about our plan. What was it going to take to get past armed guards? There were too many to sneak by they were all too vigilant and there were too many to fight especially since they have guns. I couldn't think straight though, I was too worried about what would happen to the cadets if this went wrong. What would happen to Keith and Lane if we didn't get down to the cell block fast enough.

"There's too many…" I said.

"There might be another way to the cell blocks. This might not be the only way in." Pidge offered.

I shook my head. "Even if there was we'd only be losing time for the cadets. Plus the number of soldiers might keep coming and that'll increase our chances of being caught."

"You're right…" Pidge said grimly.

I sighed and went over to look back around the corner. Maybe I could provide some sort of distraction. Yes I could, I could use my voltcom to fire an air away from us. That should get their attention long enough for us to get though the door. I walked back over to Hunk and Pidge to tell them my plan and they both agreed. Then I activated my voltcom and inched toward the corner. After focusing on a target I let the arrow fly.

All the soldiers looked in that direction and murmured to each other. One of them began walking in that direction but stopped short and told his companions that it was probably nothing. I gritting my teeth; it didn't work the first time so I shot another arrow then after that I shot another. "Allura be careful." I heard Hunk say behind me, I merely nodded and let loose another arrow. Now the soldiers were becoming uncomfortable. Some of them cocked their guns. I let loose another arrow.

"It's them…" one of them murmured.

Good they were falling for it. Now I needed them to go for it, maybe not all of them but most of them at least. I shot an arrow and one of the soldiers made a hand signal; several of them moved away to go investigate leaving only three of them left to guard. I looked back at Pidge and Hunk telling them to get ready. Peeking around the corner I went to aim only to find a gun pointed right in my face.

"Having fun playing Robin Hood?" said the female soldier.

"Having fun playing with your toys?" I snapped back and hit her in the stomach with the bow. She let out a cry out pain and I jumped up to knock her onto her back.

Another soldier came straight at me however he wasn't able to come any closer because he took a blow from Hunk that knocked him into the wall. The three of us looked at the remaining soldier who dropped his gun and took off running like a coward.

"Come on hurry!" I said and we headed for the door.

/

**Next chapter: Oxygen: Part 2**


	6. Chapter 6

**VI**

**Oxygen: Part 2**

**Larmina POV**

I watch Daniel through blurred vision. He was sleeping, I knew I should have woke him up but I was just too sore and weak. It was even harder to breathe right now and I didn't want to move. I also couldn't help but to wonder what was bothering him so much. He was muttering things in his sleep. Was he having a nightmare?

I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. He has a lot of things on his mind and then we get ourselves captured by these people. From the way he's acting I could tell that they must have tortured him. He's trying to act all tough just to keep us from worrying but I could see how weak and in pain he was. I struggled to get to my feet but only ended up falling back to the floor. Tears came to my eyes, this was horrible.

I closed my eyes now I knew how Daniel felt. Hopeless. Sighing I closed my eyes ready to just die. Before I could black out a sound made me jerk up. There was a door and there were soldiers coming in with two new prisoners. My spirits lifted only a little. "Keith…Lance…"

….

**Lance POV**

My eyes widened when I saw their condition. They all looked so weak. Vince and Daniel looked like they were asleep or at least that's won't I hoped which wasn't a good sign. Larmina looked on the verge of blacking out as well. The soldiers pushed us in and walked back to the entrance. "Enjoy it while you can, you won't be with your little friends for long." One of them said in a snide tone before leaving the door closed behind them.

"No!" I shouted and rushed at where the door was and tackled it. There was a loud echo from the impact that made me stumble back.

"We can't get out…" Keith said.

I let out a sigh. "We need to get the cadets out of here…" I said and walked over to Larmina. "How long have they kept you here?" I asked her. For a moment I was worried she wouldn't have the energy to talk.

She shook her head. "I don't know…" she looked over at Daniel in concern.

Keith followed her gaze and went over to Daniel to see if he could wake him up. I grimaced. "Stay awake Larmina…" I told her as I went over to wake Vince.

"Vince wake up." I said while shaking him. He merely groaned and his eyes fluttered but he wouldn't wake up. Not good, not good at all. If he wouldn't wake up immediately then that means they've been in here for too long. "Come on…wake up." I said shaking him again. This time Vince opened his eyes and lifted his head weakly. He looked up in surprise when he saw me. "Listen," I said as he sat up in a sitting position, "we need you to stay awake."

He nodded.

I looked over to see if Daniel was up yet and saw that Keith was still trying to get him awake. I walked over and kneeled down beside him to see if I could help. "He won't wake up…no matter what. He won't react to anything." He said when I came up beside him.

"I had to shake Vince a couple of times until he finally came out of it. Maybe…"

"No I mean that it's like he doesn't want to wake up. I can't get him to even stir, the only thing he does is pull away…" he said cutting through my sentence.

That doesn't make any sense. "Why wouldn't he want to wake up, what did they do to him?"

"They…they tortured him…" we looked behind us to see Larmina standing and looking ready to collapse. She stumbled over and used the wall as a support.

Keith frowned. "What did they do to him?" he asked in a dark tone.

Larmina shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I don't know…when they brought him in; he was knocked out and freezing cold. He said he couldn't remember what they did to him."

I looked back a Daniel they must have done something really horrible to him if he's refusing to wake up. "He'll have to wake up though," I said feeling more than a little agitated, "we need to get the cadets out of here before it's too late for them all." We needed to find a way out of here quickly. I was already starting to get a headache myself.

….

**Daniel POV**

_I looked around impatiently for Nat and Aiden to show up. They had told me to come here beside the river around 9:00 and they weren't anywhere to be seen. A thought occurred to me, maybe this was a test. It wasn't the first time they had tested me like this. They both were probably hiding somewhere waiting to ambush me. I tensed up ready to brace myself just in case they jumped me._

_ I thought I heard something rustle in the bushes nearby. When I turned to face it I was expecting Nat or Aiden to come out after me. After a long wait I saw that it must have been the wind, but when I began walking off I heard the movement again and I thought I heard a voice. "Aiden?" I called out, "Nat? I know that's one of you so stop being jerks and come out already!"_

_ Nothing._

_ Now I probably was getting paranoid. There was nothing there, I probably was just imagining it. I began walking toward the river when I heard the voice again. "I have a power you could never turn down." It whispered loudly. I looked over my shoulder nervously. _

_ "Who's there?" I asked, "Nat if that's you trying to freak me out I'll kill you for it later!" _

_ Then I felt something push me and I skidded against the ground. I let out a yelp when my body hit the ground. Before I could recover I was hit again and knocked into the river. My head hit something before I fell in the water and blacked out. _

_ "Daniel no!" I heard a muffled voice scream in horror. Through my muggy mind I could barely make out two figures above me I was also unaware of the danger I was in. "DANIEL!" I heard the shout again. My vision began to blur and turn black. Suddenly my body grew very cold it felt like I was letting go of something important that I always would have with me._

_ It felt weird but I didn't really care. For a moment I didn't care about anything, I couldn't feel anything. "Daniel!"_

….

"Daniel!"

I gasped and woke up with a jolt. Immediately I felt freezing cold and began shivering violently. In front of me I could see figures. When my vision finally cleared I saw it was Keith and Lance. "I must be hallucinating…" I muttered closing my eyes, "this has to be another dream."

"No…not a dream at least I hope it isn't." Lance said sighing in relief, "You scared us right there kid."

I tilted my head.

"You… stopped breathing…" Larmina said from beside me.

Oh…I almost had died. No wonder they all looked so frightened. I shifted uncomfortably they were too close seeing my discomfort the three of them backed away. "How'd you get in here?" was the first thing I asked.

They both explained about the message that was sent them and how they were capture. When they were done I asked. "What about the others," I struggled to stand up but without much success. Instead I stayed on the floor until I could get back on my feet. "where are they right now?"

"I don't know," Keith replied grimly, "we left them somewhere and they should be on their way to find the cell block."

"If those soldiers hit them with those staffs they won't be able to defend themselves. It messes with the voltcoms." Vince muttered from where he was standing across the room.

"That explains a lot." Keith muttered bitterly while studying his voltcom.

I couldn't help but to stifle a short insane sounding laugh. They all looked at me curiously I ignored their stares. "I wonder what twisted freak is doing all of this." The thought made me shudder it may have been from how cold I felt though. I wrapped my arms around myself and rested my chin on my knees. "We're going to die…" the words slipped from my mouth and even surprised myself.

"Daniel…we can't afford to think negative things like that now." Keith said with a pained expression. I looked away from him despite the dire situation I felt some of my anger I had felt at him earlier bubble. "Listen just look at me…" he said I reluctantly turned my head back toward him. "We're going to get the three of you out of this mess okay."

"You have no idea how many times I've heard something like that." I said.

Keith and Lance looked at each other and Larmina looked worried. I looked away from them all. "That doesn't mean it isn't true Daniel." Vince said as he walked over, I knew it had to take a lot of energy he looked almost as weak and tired as I felt. I snorted but I didn't look over at him.

"And what makes you think it is?" I growled.

"…Well Keith and Lance are here and the others…"

"SHUT UP VINCE JUST SHUT UP ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" I snapped my voice echoed powerful off the walls. All of them looked at me in horror, they probably thought that I was some type of monster. I didn't care what they thought about me right now. My head was to clouded with too many thoughts to care about anything. Though it disturbed me somewhat on the inside I wished I had died.

Lance groaned and sat down beside me. I felt the sudden need to move away but his voice stopped me. "I know what they did to you Daniel…they broke your spirit. You know I never thought I'd see the day that Daniel would give up all hope. And I'd never thought someone could make you stop being so stubborn." He sounded labored for a moment I felt kind of bad.

I shook my head. "You can't look on the bright side of demise…" was my negative reply.

"And you can't look on the downside of hope." He said.

I stifled a weak chuckle. "You sound just like him…"

Lance gave me a confused look. "Like who?"

My face turned hot when I realized what I had just said. I moved further away from him. "Never mind…it's nothing…nothing…." I responded.

"Daniel…" he began.

"Now's not the time Lance!" I snapped.

They were all silent for a long time. They were probably surprised that sweet, stupid Daniel had such a temper. I wanted to choke out a laugh at their expressions. However I was too weak and felt like passing out again. Lance shook my when he saw me closing my eyes. "We can't have you dying on us again you all need to stay awake." He said as he stood to his feet he held his hand out and helped me up as well. I stumbled a little at first seeing that I was about to fall he let me lean on him for support.

I wanted to pull away and I would have if I didn't want to fall on my face. This was stupid even with them here they wouldn't be able to help us. The walls were pretty much indestructible and there was barely any air left in here. Keith and Lance came here for no reason but to die. There was no way out.

"If they are coming they better hurry up…" I growled. "And how are they going to open this thing?"

"The guards have a key system they use. I saw one of them use it before throwing us in here. If they can take those then we'll be able to get out." Keith replied.

Even when he said this I couldn't help but to get a bad vibe. They should have had a harder time getting to us. Didn't like how things were going, I just hoped the others knew what they were doing.

As if on cue there was a commotion on the other side of the walls. Which was surprising because we could hear what was happening out there. This prison was strange. I saw the others perk up at once however I kept my dull expression. Just because we might be able to get out of this torture chamber it didn't mean we were out of the fire yet.

….

**? POV**

If I were a cat I'd be purring in content, everything was falling into place perfectly. They had come to rescue their little friends quicker than I thought though. That aside it was almost time to spring the second part of the trap. "Go confront the children I'll have the Dogs get the other ones." I said in a soft voice.

"Oh finally I get to meet them face to face." He said.

I chuckled at his false excitement. "When you find them don't kill them okay? They're still needed alive."

He walked up behind me and looked at the security feed. "I guess I was wrong about you stupid plan," I snorted at his comment, "it seems to be holding together just fine."

"Go…" I command.

"As you wish." He said in a amused tone.

When he left I studied the screen for a long time. A small smile formed on my face. "You've grown up a lot haven't you?"

….

**Keith POV**

The door opened and Allura, Pidge, and Hunk walked in.

I arched a brow. "Took you long enough."

She smiled. "Well you're the ones who got yourselves captured."

I looked over at the cadets to see how they were holding up. They all looked relieved despite how exhausted they were. "Can you three walk yourselves?" I asked.

"I think we'll be able to handle ourselves." Daniel said pushing away from Lance to go and lean against Vince. They weren't going to be able to move very quickly, they still needed more time to recover. I looked at Lance and he nodded.

"Come on let's go."

….

The halls were fairly empty which was surprising. There were no soldiers at all. I was surprised that no one came after us which only made me more suspicious. Something wasn't right about this but we still had to get out of here.

The cadets where walking behind us using each other as support as they followed us. Looking back at them not they seemed to look fine. Better than when they there were stuck in that prison.

"You were told you wouldn't be with your little friends for long."

"Great," Lance growled in agitation, "this guy again."

Up ahead a fleet of soldiers came charging right at us. Before we could escape a door slide down and blocked us off. Not only we couldn't escape but now we were separated from the cadets. Great this must be where the trap comes in. The soldiers closed in closer pointing their electric staffs at us.

….

**Daniel POV**

"No!" I shouted breaking away from Larmina and Vince. It was all in vain though, I knew it that door wasn't going to budge for anything. I kicked and punched at it nonetheless until Vince had to pull me away.

"Daniel we're not going to accomplish anything like that." He said in an irked tone.

I pulled away from him and let out a growl or rage. This wasn't fair we were so close to freedom! "We need to find them so we can get out of here. I'm not going back to that stupid cell!" I screamed.

Larmina and Vince looked pained but I knew they agreed with what I was saying. They helped me to my feet.

"You're right Daniel you're not going back to that cell. No I have other plans from you." Said a voice behind us. Immediately we all turned around to see who it was and I wished I didn't. The minute I saw him I wished this were just some jacked up nightmare. I wished that I was just imagining seeing him that I was just my brain playing tricks on me. Yeah that had to be it. I've been in that chamber for a long time, maybe I was suffering from brain damage or something.

But no it was real. No matter how many times I have tried to deny it I knew it was real. It wasn't a dream and he wasn't dead. He was standing here, right there in front of me with that cocky smirk on his face. Those dark green eyes that had so much hatred in them, I remember they held the same darkness they did four years ago. He hasn't changed, he was still a monster. I backed away with fear until my back hit the door. Vince and Larmina saw how I reacted and tensed when he came closer.

"Well you've grown up a lot Danny," he said looking at me with an evil glare , "it's been four years…wow. Here you are fifteen years old and a part of the Voltron Force."

I could only cower back like a kicked puppy. All those bad memories were going through my head leaving be frozen with fear. I almost felt like crying. "No…it can't be…" I muttered.

He chuckled and began to advance quickly. Vince and Larmina both got a bad vibe from him and began backing away as well. They could feel something wasn't right about him. "I'm offend Danny you look so unhappy to see me."

No matter how many times I told myself this couldn't be happening I couldn't reassure myself. It was happening right now, he was here and alive. "Nat…"

/

**Note: **_Yay double update…well um yeah Daniel seems to have a weird past. Hope you all liked it I'll try to get the next chapter up asap. Um btw anyone know Daniel's last name I'd like to know for future chapters and Voltron fanfics. Thanks!_

**Next Chapter: Reunion Disunion**


	7. Chapter 7

**VII**

**Reunion Disunion**

**Daniel POV**

"Nat…" I whispered in a mix of fear and awe.

Nat smirked as he came closer his eyes were very friendly either. "I'm glad you remember me."

He was the same as the last time I saw him. Green eyes, brown hair, and a sadistic attitude. Even over the course of four years he hasn't changed all that much. The only real change I could see was how much stronger he was. That's what made me scared, Nat was stronger now, deadlier.

"What did you do to the others?" I demanded in a shaky voice.

"Daniel you know this guy?" Larmina whispered to me. I gave a short nod.

"Don't worry," Nat replied blandly, "they aren't dead…yet. I won't hurt you either so you and your friends can calm down."

I wasn't going to trust him again, why should I have to listen to anything he says? He held his hand out in beckoning and I glared at him. Chuckling he dropped his hand and turned away. "That's okay Daniel you don't have to trust me," at that moment four soldiers with staffs appeared. I winced remembering how much damage they could do with those things. Looking at Larmina and Vince I could tell they were thinking the same, "I'm sure these soldiers would want to return you to your cell. Then I can be on my way and forget we ever had this conversation. The soldiers began to prowl forward.

"Wait!" I said the soldiers stopped and looked at Nat expectantly. He looked over his shoulder still looking smug. "What do you want?"

"Merely to make amends." He replied.

"You can't make amends with someone you tried to kill."

Nat snorted. "Why live in the past Daniel?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, Nat hasn't changed I could see it in his eyes. He was the same monster that turned his back on me. "I'm not living in the past I just remember how you and Aiden betrayed me."

"It's time to forgive and forget now you either come with me," Nat gestured to the soldiers holding their staffs at us, "or go with them. It's your choice Daniel."

I looked back at Vince and Larmina, I didn't want them to suffer because of me. Knowing this would probably come back and bite me I reluctantly nodded. Nat's eyes lit in victory and he waved the soldiers off. I could help but sneer at him to show I still hated him for what he did to me when I was younger.

"Where are me going?" I immediately asked him when we began walking.

"Just to take a little walk." I didn't like the tone in his voice.

….

Nat took us down a long hall. I looked nervously at the soldiers as we passed by them. They didn't advance on us though they stayed leaning against the walls, every once in awhile one of them would give a respectful nod to Nat. I couldn't help but to be suspicious, Nat had lost my trust years ago. Just because he had called off the guards once doesn't mean he won't try something. I didn't want to let my guard down around him.

"He's one of the people in that photo." Vince said in a quiet voice so only Larmina and Vince could hear. I grimaced and nodded though I wished it wasn't him.

"What did he do to you?"

"Something bad…"

Larmina looked sympathetic. "But what happened?" she whispered.

"I can't tell you," I whispered back. The memory hurt too much to talk about, they'd be okay if they didn't know, "it scares me…"

Larmina was quiet. "I'm sorry."

We walked for a long time until we came to an observation deck. Nat looked over at me in amusement and when I saw that look I knew I was going to hate what was about to happen. He looked at the window. It showed a control room with a full platoon of armed soldiers. Nothing that really caught my attention but then again knowing how Nat was; something would eventually. I gave him a dull look and he smiled.

I couldn't help but shudder. There was a bad vibe that I felt, from that one look I knew this would be something bad. He looked back to the window with a smug expression. "What is this Nat?" I demanded fearfully. Nat ignored me still studying the control room below us intently. "Nat!" I shouted trembling with anger. Larmina grabbed my arm.

Nat slowly turned his head back to me. His dark green eyes were glowing with a dark light. "Shut up and enjoy the show kid."

At that moment a couple of soldiers came in escorting a line of people. I recognized them immediately. It was the force...

Larmina gasped and Vince clenched his hands into fists. I glared darkly at Nat; the creep was smiling! "Let. Them. Go."

Nat chuckled and shook his head. "No way seeing you squirm is fun." A soldier down below looked up at him and he gave a curt nod. "I take it you three would like to go down and say goodbye to them? I'm sure they would like to see you kids are all okay."

I grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "This has nothing to do with them Nat! I said let them go!" he merely pushed me away. It surprised me how easily I had lost my grip.

"Oh I think it has everything to do with them Danny boy." He said placing one hand on my neck, he squeezed lightly before letting go. "Don't try to fight me Daniel, I'm stronger than you and even stronger now. Plus I need you alive so don't make me angry." He said a voice that was only quiet enough for me to hear.

I clenched my teeth. "If you do anything…"

Nat let out a laugh and ruffled my hair. I angrily pulled away hating to be touched by him. His eyes glinted with malice. "Yeah like you can do anything with all those soldiers down there. Now come with me so you can tell your little friends to calm down before they get on the soldiers' nerves."

Forcing my temper to subside for now I followed him. He took us down a flight of steps and through another hall. "Please don't take this the wrong way Daniel…"

"Oh sure I'll try not to after you tried drowning and suffocating me today." I muttered.

Nat sighed. "You always knew how to hold a grudge." We had just entered the room we had seen from the observation deck. Immediately we all brushed by Nat and rushed over to them the soldiers guarding them pointed their staffs at us and we backed away. Once we were at a certain distance they lowered them.

"Nat." I said looking over my shoulder.

Nat shook his head and walked past me. Keith gave him a glared as he walked by. I shook my head in warning, I didn't want him to get hurt. "They're prisoners I can't let them go. I have 'orders' to keep them here. As for you…" he looked over me and went on to gawk at Larmina and Vince.

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

Nat leaned against a nearby table. "Remember that talk we had earlier about making me angry? You're starting to tick me off Danny."

"Why do you have us here what did we ever do to you?" Allura asked in a tone that was calmer than mine. I should probably calm down as well.

Nat looked at her with contempt. "Classified."

Keith snorted.

"Nat…" I began hoping I could convince him to let them go, though I doubt it would work. Nat has become a little heartless since the last time I saw him. "Just let them go, if this has anything to do with…the incident then it's me you want. They didn't do anything wrong so please let them leave unharmed."

"Daniel what are you talking…" Keith trailed off.

"What a pity…" Nat said in a bitter tone. "Is that what it's called now…'the incident'? Where's your pride, you shouldn't be ashamed of your friends…"

I snorted. "You and Aiden lost my respect and my trust back then."

"Aiden would be upset and very disappointed in you. He took you under his wing and you repay him with hate." Nat replied blandly.

I didn't dare take my eyes off of him. "After what you people did to me I'd take that as a compliment."

My anger was now beginning to get the best of me. He was starting to drag Aiden into this. Everything seemed to fade away and it didn't make since. Larmina, Vince and the others went away and it was just me and Nat.

"You keep saying that we betrayed you Daniel but what do you think you're doing?" Nat said.

"Defending my friends!"

"Me and Aiden were your friends as well. We…"

"AIDEN IS DEAD!" I yelled my temper finally broke.

The room suddenly came back to us. I could tell that everyone was looking at me with wide eyes because of my outburst. Nat merely looked at me with a dull expression, after a long time he smiled. "That's right…Aiden's…'dead'." He said coolly. "You kept telling yourself that until you started to believe that it was true didn't you?"

I was shaking too hard to respond. Nat shook his head at me and held up his palm. Taking me by surprise I was knocked several feet backwards and crashed into a computer behind me. The jarring impact knocked the wind out of me and nearly knocked me out. I gasped in pain and collapsed unto my side. _What the heck hit me?_

"Daniel while you are here let me make something clear," Nat said advancing on me, "I'm not like you're little friends over there. Like a said before I'm stronger than I was before." He raised his palm and I felt another blow. "I'm not fond of your little attitude so drop it. Am I clear?"

I only glared at him refusing to say anything. He wouldn't when this that easily. "I said am I clear?" he raised his palm and hit me with another blow, then another. "Am I clear?" I growled before hitting me again.

"Daniel tell him yes already!" I heard Lance shout.

I saw him through teary eyes, his expression was of horror and concern. It annoyed me that he was acting so worried about me but I listened to him. "I…understand." I coughed.

Nat smirked. "Good boy."

I couldn't leave it at that though, I would let Nat feel smug. "What I don't understand is how you could become so pathetic. Four years ago you were a man but now…you seem more like a coyote."

Nat gave me a death glare, I braced myself for another blow. Taking me by surprise he turned and hit Lance who was knocked unto his knees. The soldiers guarding him kicked him in the side and forced him to stand back up. Nat chuckled evilly when he saw my pain expression. "Ah I see now…" he said, "you actually care. I never thought you could care for someone after what happened."

"I said this had nothing to do with them!" I shouted.

"And I said it did." Nat snarled.

Now I remembered why I was frightened of him when I met him again. Nat's changed, he's even more of a monster than he was before. He looked at me in disgust before walking away. Vince and Larmina came over and helped me up. "You have a lot to explain…." Vince told me when they got me to my feet.

I winced at the throbbing in the back of my head. Nat had hit me pretty hard, he was right he had grown stronger. "Yeah I think I do."

"They've made you weak Danny," Nat said while his back was turned to me. I hated him so much. "I thought you'd at least remember some of what Aiden and eye taught you."

"I hate you…" I growled.

Nat looked over his shoulder and smiled. "I know you do."

….

They took Keith and the others to one of the cell blocks. Thankfully it wasn't the one that we were thrown in. Nat let us down there to 'visit' for awhile. I was still steaming from my earlier confrontation with him. Thought at the same time I was scared. Things have gotten worse it's like he's not a human anymore.

"Daniel I think it's time you told us the truth…" Vince said, "The whole truth."

"I agree. What happened between you two?" Keith asked.

I shook my head. "I don't want to say…"

"Daniel."

I sighed I had to tell them. There was no other choice I could make but to let them know what happened. "It happened four years ago," I began with a shaky voice, "I was waiting for Aiden and Nat by the river they told me to wait by. Something happened…I don't know what but I knocked me into the water."

It hurt to remember it. Especially when I didn't want to talk about it. But everyone kept pushing it.

"I almost drowned…but Aiden and Nat managed to get to me in time. After that some guy appeared saying that he could give us power. Aiden and Nat accepted….whatever this power whatever it was changed them."

"And you didn't accept?" Keith asked.

I sighed. "I was only eleven I didn't understand anything…I was scared so I said no." I replied, "Aiden and Nat turned on me for some reason, they tried to force me to accept but I ran away. When they caught up with me…" I trailed off and shook my head, I couldn't go on with it anymore. They tried to kill me, the two people I looked up the most had tried to kill me and they almost succeeded. The gruesome memory made me shudder.

"But why are they after you now?" Allura asked, "You said that happened four years ago. They should have given up a long time ago."

"I don't know…"

They dropped it at that seeing that I was being upset by it. I looked down at the floor, I hadn't told anyone about those events ever. Now that the fore knew they'd probably want to keep their distance from me. I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment refusing to let them to me cry.

"Daniel Chandler…"

I looked up and saw that a soldier had come to get me. My anger immediately spiked up again. "What is it?" I growled.

"Your presence is requested sir." The soldier which was female replied and I grimaced.

"What does Nat want?"

The soldier sighed. "I said your presence is requested. That wasn't a statement…that was an order." she said holding her gun up. I shouldn't have been intimidated by a girl like that, but I was.

Feeling reluctant I let her escort me from the cell block. I looked over my shoulder and shrugged at Vince and Larmina who were giving me distressed looks. After all we've been through they were nervous when we got separated. I didn't blame them either, after they witnessed what Nat could do I knew they had to be a little scared.

The soldier led me upstairs and then to a freight elevator. It was when the elevator stopped that she spoke to me again. "Those other two kids will be okay," she said in a reassuring tone. I looked at her in surprise, I couldn't see her face to tell if she was joking around or not but she sounded sympathetic, "More than likely the boss will have them evaluated and recruited. As for the Voltron Force they might end up being tortured then killed…"

"You sure are making me feel a lot better by telling me this." I said with sarcasm. We stepped out of the elevator and I watch the soldier walk up to a door in front of us and slip four key cards into the slots beside it. When the door opened she hesitated and turned her head back toward me.

"I'm sorry…"

That took me by surprise. The soldier began walking again and I had to run before the door closed on me. "Sorry?" I asked once I fell into step beside he, "For what? What does that even mean?"

"I don't know what the boss wants with you but I don't think It'll be good for you." She spoke again changing the subject, I was beginning to become irked, "Daniel I'm sorry to say this but you might just end up dying. No offense but…"

"No…" I cut her off, my gaze darkened. She was right; knowing how unlucky I was I probably I would end up dying. It didn't surprise me at all. "No it's alright I understand…"

We then stopped at a door. The soldier knocked on the metal door. "Sir I've brought the boy." She nodded at me and began to walk away. I watched her walk away and hesitated to call out or not.

"Mine telling me your name?" I asked.

The soldier stopped and looked back at me. "Why you think we could be friends or something in the future?" she choked out a laugh.

"I don't see why not." I told her with a small smiled. "You seem different…like you actually have a heart."

She stood there for a long time before saying. "Whatever." Then walked away.

Just then the door opened. I peered inside curiously trying to see what I was in for. "Don't be scared Daniel come on in so we can talk." I walked inside and the door closed behind me with a loud sound. "I'm glad you still manage to walk after all that damage you took."

I frowned and looked around to find the source of where the voice was coming from. It couldn't be another PA system it sounded too clear, too close…uncomfortably close. Whoever it was they were in this room I just couldn't see them because it was too dark. "Where are you?" I asked warily.

"You were taught not turn your back on anyone. They might be able to stab you in the back." I was shoved forward, my immediate reaction was to turn around and see who it was but saw no one there. "You've lost your touch…shame…"

Then I grabbed from behind and forced to turn around. I saw who it was…Aiden. I shouldn't have been surprised, I should have known it would be him. Instead I felt as scared as I felt when I saw Nat. Aiden smiled and let me go, I stumbled backwards and fell to the floor.

"Nat told me able your little confrontation." He said forcing me back to my feet. I immediately pulled away when he grabbed me. There was a dark expression on his face. "You've changed a lot too."

"For the best and I wish I could say the same about you…Aiden." I replied coolly.

He shook his head. "You still hate me for the choice I made back then. Daniel you could have made that choice too and you could have been stronger." He sounded insane talking like that, it made me sick. "I'm allowing you to make that choice again Danny…"

_What?_

I stared at Aiden. "You know I won't accept it, I would never want to become anything like you…"

"We'll see about that." The door opened up again and Aiden waved me away. I gave him another long stare before I backed out the door. He smiled smugly. "You wouldn't want your little friends getting hurt would you?"

Before I could make an angry reply the door slammed in my face. I stood there stunned for awhile. Then finally I managed to come out of the daze. When I came to my senses I realized there were tears falling. My friends…all of them were here and in danger because of me. They would all die if I didn't make the right choice. I hated how all of this came down on my shoulders. Aiden was forcing this on me.

I walked numbly down to the end of the hall. This was horrible, it was the worse situation I could be in. It was either becoming a demon like Nat and Aiden and possibly be the one who destroys Voltron or they're all killed if I decline.

….

**Keith POV**

I was pacing around in my cell impatiently waiting for Daniel to return. This whole situation bothered me a lot. This guy…Nat came back for him and I didn't know what reason. The fact that Daniel has been gone for a long time didn't help my nerves. I could see the other cadets were just as worried. The soldiers were probably becoming agitated by them.

I walked to the bars and peered out and looked up and down the catwalk. Daniel still hasn't come back yet. "That man…" I murmured to myself, "it was like he wasn't even human."

Vince looked up. "I have I feeling he wasn't either. Maybe he was back then but now I don't think so."

"Daniel won't talk about it either." I heard Allura say from her cell.

"I can't believe he was actually friends with that creep. " Lance muttered.

I couldn't believe it either. Nat seemed so cruel and evil, I thought about the photo of him with Daniel. How could someone like that change so much? No wonder Daniel seemed so upset when we bothered him about it.

"They tried to kill him. Whatever happened must have messed that friendship up real bad."

Larmina looked up. "That's what has me worried," she said looking off in the direction the soldier had escorted Daniel. "They tried killing him back then. What to stop them from killing him now? None of us around to make sure he's okay."

That thought had never occurred to me. It may have but I probably pushed it to the back of my mind refusing to think negatively. She was right though, Daniel could be in danger. The thought made me even more impatient. I wanted to get out of here but knew I couldn't do anything but wait here in this cage. If there weren't so many soldiers around then I would have asked Vince and Larmina to go find him. They were watching us closely though, I couldn't tell them anything without the soldiers knowing. I could tell they were also suspicious. Whoever was in charge was telling them to keep a careful eye on us.

I glared over at two soldiers up on a catwalk above us. Every time one of us said something they'd put a hand on their weapons. They didn't trust anything we did."Whoever is in charge around here they seem to trust you two. They haven't put you in a cell or even cuffed your hands." I said in a quiet voice so that only Vince and Larmina could hear. The guards shifted nervously.

Larmina glanced at the guards as well with a nervous expression. "Security here is tight I don't think it'll be a good idea for us to walk around. Even if their boss supposedly 'likes' us that doesn't mean that the soldiers will like us out of their sights." She replied in a hiss.

"Yeah if we tried to leave they'd only give us an escort to make sure we don't try anything." Vince added, "We'll have to wait it out and see if Daniel comes back or not."

"What'll happen if he doesn't?" Lance asked from his prison.

Vince grimaced. "Then you'll try to get their attention and hopefully that'll be enough for us to get away."

….

**Daniel POV**

When I got down to the end of the hall I saw a soldier waiting for me. I wiped the tears from my face not wanting to be teased.

"Hey you're alive." When I heard them talk I knew it was the female soldier again. I forced a cocky smile.

"Yeah…I'm surprised myself I thought he was going to kill me right there." I shuddered, he certainly could have if he wanted to. However Aiden was intent on making me suffer.

She nodded. This girl was really different from the other soldiers I've met around here. She just seemed more friendly and light hearted. "Well I'm glad you're okay I was just starting to get use to you."

I couldn't help but smile she definitely was different.

….

The two of us were silent for most of the walk. Especially when we walked by the other soldiers it was good to keep up the act. When were on our way back to the cell blocks was when she finally spoke. "Leo."

I looked over at her with a frown. "What?"

"My name is Leo." She repeated.

"Oh," I said, "nice to meet you Leo…" we stopped at the entrance to the cell blocks.

"You say that like we could be friends…" she sounded sullen and remorseful.

I nodded. "We could be…if things were different."

She nodded back. "Yeah." She led me back to the other who all looked relieved to see I was back. I tried my best to hide the pain in my eyes. However I could tell Larmina noticed. She tried to meet my eyes but I kept my gaze on the ground.

I felt Leo bump my shoulder before she walked away.

"Daniel what happened?" Larmina asked immediately. I shook my head, my vision blurred over a little.

"I can't say…" I replied in a quiet voice.

I felt her grab my arm but I pulled away and walked over to the railing. Aiden's last words to me when I left echoed in my head. He would hurt them if I didn't make the choice he wanted me to make. I gripped the railing tightly. "Something happened…I don't want to say all I can tell you is it was something bad."

"It was Aiden…" I heard her say, "he's here too…"

"That's nothing you need to worry about. I can deal with both Nat and Aiden myself!"

"I'm only trying to help…"

I closed my eyes. "Yeah but these are two guys I don't want anyone else getting involved with. Besides…" I lifted my head and opened my eyes, my hands clenched tighter. A small smirked formed on my face when I turned back to face them. I held my hand out using my body to shield the item from the view of the guards. They were keys and they would get me through any door in this place. "I think we have an ally.

/

**Note: ** _Fair warning everyone I like leaving my chapters in cliffhangers. Just letting you know fair warning in the future. And don't worry you'll see more of Aiden in the next chapter ^.^_

**Next Chapter: "Runaway"**


	8. Chapter 8

**VIII**

**Runaway**

**Aiden POV**

"He's become weak…" I said when Nat walked in.

Nat snorted. "It's because he's letting Voltron hold him back. I doubt he'd be able to keep his sanity much longer though. He's still in shock from what happened four years ago."

I turned around to face him. "What are you trying to say?" I asked him.

"I'm saying because of what happened to him at a young age his mind is fragile," he replied coolly. He brushed past me and studied the security feed. "Which means all he needs is the right nudge and he'll turn against Voltron."

"Interesting." I said.

Then we might just get what we wanted. If all Daniel needed was the right push then we'd give it to him. I chuckled at the thought. "It won't hurt him will it?" I asked, the last thing we needed was the kid having issues. If he was as fragile minded as Nat said then I didn't want him hurting himself.

Nat grimaced. "There's no telling with him. He's already traumatized Aiden I don't know how far we could push it."

I thought about it for a moment. The reason he was so fragile minded was probably because of how weak he had gotten. "So you're saying if we pressure him to say…kill one of them he'll eventually do it…"

"Yes." He replied looking smug.

I nodded. "I like it."

Nat glanced over at me. "You're better at messing with people's minds Aiden…"

I shook my head. "It's still too soon."

"I understand."

Daniel has shown us his weakness. He could be easily convinced to change sides. I smiled Voltron would be speechless when they saw one of their cadets decided to play traitor. The only problem was how Daniel was going to handle it. It would take a lot to get him to turn against his little friends. He seemed close to them too, it would be hard to pry him away from them. If only I could drive a wedge between them. Maybe I could get him to lose trust in them somehow.

He was scarred but he was also a fifteen year old boy. I couldn't trick him that easily; especially with how close they were watching him. They were interference. I looked at the security feed and saw Daniel talking with the one called Keith. I smirked, he was oblivious to the fact of how dangerous he was to them. Once I managed to get into his head he won't see them as his friends anymore.

….

**Daniel POV**

"I don't believe it…" Pidge said coming closer, "how did you get those?" he exclaimed.

I smiled and motioned for him to be silent. The guards were watching us closely and I didn't want them to know what I had. If they found out I had these keys not only I'd be in trouble but Leo as well. I may have just known her for a couple of minutes I still didn't want her to get in trouble knowing how harsh things were here.

I shot a look back to the guards then turned back to them. "Like I told you before," I said in a whisper, "I got it from a…friend."

"And it'll open these cells?" Lance asked.

I nodded.

"The real challenge is how you're going to use them," Vince added, "they have soldiers everywhere guarding us. We won't be able to get you out without being caught."

I clenched my teeth wishing it could have been easier than this. The chances of unlocking the cells without the soldiers noticing was low. I noticed a group of soldiers coming our way. Probably coming to take us out of the cell blocks, I hide the keys in my pocket. "We'll figure something out later." I said.

"You three are to accompany us." Said one of the soldiers.

It was tempting to demand where we were going, but some of the soldiers had staffs. The three of us went with them without speaking. I looked up and saw Nat waiting at the door. Seeing him sent my warning alarms off. I looked down at the floor trying to avoid his eyes. It didn't matter if I looked at him or not he still stopped me and pulled me from Vince and Larmina. They both looked ready to defend me but a dark look from Nat and some prodding from the soldiers made them move on. When they were gone Nat pulled me along and down the hall opposite of the one they were taking them down.

I managed to pull out of his vise like grip and put some distance between us. He didn't seem to care though; all he wanted was for me to stay in his sights. "So Danny I think it's time we had a little talk. What do you think old friend?"

"I think I hate you calling me friend…even if you said _old _friend." I growled.

He chuckled. "Will you ever forgive me?"

"No…"

He sighed knowing how difficult I was going to be. "Yeah you know how to hold a grudge alright."

"What did you want with me Nat?"

"We need to talk."

I looked away from him. He sounded so sincere there was no bitter note in his tone. "Make it quick…"

"I'll try not to waste your time," he replied with a sneer, the sincerity in his voice was gone now. I knew it was too good to last. "But I wanted to talk to you about…Voltron."

My heart quickened he was starting to tread in dangerous territory. I didn't know why he wanted to talk about the Voltron Force though. It made me feel a little more than nervous. "You don't need to know anything about them Nat. So drop it okay?" I growled at him. That wouldn't keep him from talking though. He'd eventually make me talk even if that meant he had to torture me again.

"Oh but I'm very curious about them." He said I could feel his cold gaze on my back. "You seem to keep a lot from them. Have you told them anything that was remotely true?"

That stung. "If I told them they'd never look at me the same way again."

"Don't you think it's a little important that they know about your past with demons?" he taunted, I knew he was just trying to make me feel guilty and I already felt guilty enough. Nat was just trying to make things worse for me.

"Your past…not mine." I growled a retort.

"We share the same past only difference is the paths we took. Aiden and I took a path that was worth it and you took a path that made you weak."

"I took a path that wouldn't end in me turning into a monster!"

"You're already tainted I don't see why you shouldn't just give in Danny. If you make the choice we made; you'll be stronger." I felt him grab my shoulder and force me to look at him. "You can have what Voltron could never give you. Just trust me."

Trust me.

Those two words made me shudder. I heard a lot of people tell me that and it always made me nervous. Even now I still was wary about Voltron, I was scared they'd let me down or turn their backs on me. I didn't want that to happen again.

I glared back at him. "Trust you?" I gave a short laugh, "that's the last thing I would do!"

Nat sneered and let me go and we continued walking down the hall. "But you seem to trust them."

"I…" my voice caught in my throat. He had me pinned now, he knew what he was talking about. I stopped and dropped my eyes to the floor. Nat knew about my issues with trust. "…they…don't know anything. So what if I'm lying to them every day, so what if I'm pretending I actually trust any of them?"

He smiled. "When they find out you're playing with them Danny they'll hate you."

"I don't care…" I snapped though that wasn't true. It hurt to lie to myself like this. Nat was right if only they knew how I was only playing with them they'd… I let the thought trail off.

"I think you do," he replied, "it's not good to keep things from people Daniel especially people who trust you."

I snorted. "Funny how that word's being thrown around a lot right now."

"I agree." Nat said.

Right now I wanted to get away so I can talk to Larmina and Vince about how we were going to get the others out. I couldn't help but shudder now that Nat had put those thoughts in my head I felt guilty. What if Nat was right and they hated me? I shuddered again what if they didn't trust me either? No I couldn't think like that!

I felt like just running away from it all. There was no one I could ever trust again so it shouldn't matter if I'm here or not right? Why am I even thinking like this, I couldn't let Nat make me feel guilty. He was just playing with me.

Nat smirked smugly and clapped down on my shoulder. I felt too numb to care about him touching me. "Why do you even bother to care if you don't even trust them?"

My whole body stiffened. I looked up at him with a glassy expression and shook my head. "Yeah I don't trust them but that doesn't mean I'll let them die." I told him.

"But why show devotion to someone you don't trust Daniel? You still don't get it, why do you stand beside them?" he asked, "They could stab you in the back while it's turned."

I pushed him away. "Like you did!"

"Tell me Daniel what will you do when they finally turn on you? Will you run away again and force yourself to forget?" Nat advanced forward again. I back away warily; wanting to put as much distance between me and him as possible. "Are you going to beat yourself up for making the mistake of meeting them huh Danny boy?"

"Shut. Up." I hissed.

Nonetheless he continued to push it. "You can't run around pretending that you trust people Daniel. You're going to have to chose who want to side with."

I snorted. "Watch me." I turned my back on him and began to walk away.

"Tell me the truth Daniel," I heard Nat call out, "How much do you actually care about them? I usually don't care about the people I don't trust…what about you?"

I stopped and stiffened at his question. It felt like I was hit in the gut, the question left me speechless. No I couldn't let him do this to me, Nat was just trying to bug me on purpose. It was just a ploy to get under my skin. Though I knew he wouldn't let me go unless I answer his question. I kept my eyes ahead when I answered him. "I don't know..." I replied in a hollow tone. He laughed.

That's when I turned to face him. He shook his head at me. "Pathetic Danny…" he said, "How can you not know your own emotions. Come on you can tell me buddy…just say it already say the truth." He whispered menacingly.

I could feel myself trembling with rage and probably fear too. "I…I don't care…"

Nat smiled smugly. "Then why bother siding with them?"

"Because I don't want to turn out like you." I retorted.

He snorted. "So you chose not to fight for either side? I wonder how Voltron would react if they heard that from you."

I let out a laugh that probably made me sound insane. "In their eyes I'm just Daniel the brash minded cadet who always gets into trouble. If I told them I didn't trust them they'd probably freak."

"Why are you playing with them though they trust you."

"Maybe because I've always looked up to Voltron when I was younger. I always wanted to be a part of it!"

"It doesn't make since though Daniel. You're part of a team you don't even trust, a team you don't even care about! Why are you protecting them?"

I gritted my teeth, there was nothing I could counter with. Within only a few minutes he had me all figured out. Nat nodded slowly. "That's all I needed to talk with you about." Two soldiers came down the hall and stopped behind me. Nat nodded at them then said to me. "Your 'friends' are waiting for you Danny."

With that said the two soldiers grabbed my shoulders and steered me away. I looked back darkly at Nat who was looking very smug. He gave me a snide wave of his hand before walking back down the hallway. The soldiers pushed me along until we came to a hall with several doors before they stopped me. One of them opened the door and pushed me inside. "You'll be staying here for awhile brat." They said before the door closed back.

The room I was in looked like some sort of cabin. It was probably one of the rooms the soldiers stayed in. "Glad you're okay." Larmina said from where she was sitting on the bed.

I nodded still feeling numb from the conversation I had with Nat. "So what did Nat want?" I heard Vince ask.

I realized I didn't really hear him until he shook my shoulder. I jumped when I came back to my senses. "I'm fine…I'm okay." I told the both of them when I saw their expressions.

Before either of them could ask any other questions there was a knock on the door. Then someone entered. It was a girl, no one I've ever met. She looked about our age and had black hair with light and dark blue streaks in it. When she saw me she smiled. I managed a weak smile myself even though I didn't know who she was.

"Uh…" Vince began.

The girl arched a brow. "I guess you're too use to me wearing my uniform." She said.

"Leo?" I said.

She nodded.

Vince and Larmina both looked confused so I explained to them about Leo.

"So," Vince began when I finished talking. He still looked at Leo suspiciously, "you're the one who gave Daniel the keys and you're going to help us get out of here?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah and I think you'd need my help if you're going to get them out of those cells without attracting attention. You have the advantage of knowing me." She said leaning against one of the walls.

Larmina frowned. "How do we know we can trust you?" she had a point. After all Leo is one of the soldiers here. This all could be a game that Aiden and Nat were playing just to mess with me.

Leo shrugged. "I gave him the keys. Those keys can get any door in this facility opened and locked." She replied coolly, "I wouldn't do that if I wasn't someone you couldn't trust."

"But why _are _you helping us?" I asked.

She turned to face me. "Because I've been against Dolus ever since my family was taken from me."

"Dolus?" Vince said looking at me and Larmina sharing a skeptic look, "as in the greek god?"

Leo smiled weakly. "Somewhat…"

The name wasn't new to me. I remember that he was the reason Aiden and Nat left me. Anger rose inside when I heard his name again. Because of him two of my friends tried to kill me! "So Dolus is responsible for building this army? What for?" I asked.

Leo watched me for a long time. "Something he wants…"

Those words made me shudder.

"What does that have to do with Voltron?" Larmina asked frowning.

"I don't know but I wish I could find out," Leo said crossing her arm. She shook her head, "Never mind that, right now we need to plan out how we are going to get your friends out of there."

….

….

**Keith POV**

I peered out the of my cell curiously. There was a commotion on one of the catwalks above us. Above I could see that there was a group of soldiers speaking with each other. "I don't recall getting orders about this." One of them growled, "We were told that our watch shift would end in four more hours. Why would it be cut short?"

"You're needed on the fourth level right now." Said another soldier.

"How come we weren't told?"

"It was last minute…"

The soldiers murmured among each other. "Who will take over when we're gone? We can't just leave our posts like this even if we're needed on the fourth level."

"That's what I'm here for…"

A couple of the other soldiers laughed. Something off to the side caught my attention. It was Vince and Daniel, they were waiting near the door watching the guards nervously. I wondered what they were up to.

"Yeah right like you could keep watch by yourself." I heard one of the soldiers say.

"There's only five of them," said the one soldier who had come in, "The three cadets are in the room they were taken to being watched closely. Even if they weren't I doubt they could do anything about their friends. So they won't be able to get out or cause any funny business."

"Eh I guess you're right."

That surprised me, I expected them to be more hesitant. The soldiers nodded at the lone soldier and they left. I frowned up at the solitary guard that was left behind to watch us. They flashed a hand signal and nodded then Vince and Daniel came away from the door. The two of them ran over to us while the soldier looked around as if obvious to what was happening.

"Daniel what's going on?" I asked when he came to my cell with the keys.

"No time to explain," he replied when he got the door opened. "We need to work fast there are cameras in here and it won't take long for them to send soldiers down after us."

He moved on to unlock the other cells. I glanced up at the soldier on the catwalk. This must have been the ally Daniel was talking about. When Daniel got everyone else out we follow him and Vince out into the hall where Larmina was waiting.

"Which way?" she asked.

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know I was out cold when I was dragged in here" he replied.

"Calm down yelling at each other isn't going to help." I said.

"But I can." I turned and saw the soldier from up on the catwalk jogging toward us. She stopped in front of Daniel, "Just follow me I can take you on a short cut out of here."

I glanced at Daniel and he nodded. Reluctantly I followed her down the hall.

….

"So you three going to introduce us to your new friend." Lance asked.

"Name's Leo." The female soldier said without looking back at us.

"Why are you helping us?" Allura asked her.

Leo was quiet for awhile before she spoke. "Let's just say I don't agree with the motive of the other soldiers here."

I noticed Daniel was hanging back from the rest of us. Wondering what was wrong I dropped back beside him. When I fell into step beside him he noticeably stiffened. Something must have been bothering him. "A lot of bad things have happened to you huh?" I said. He looked away refusing to start up conversation. I sighed, he still refused to talk to me about anything. Even now he wouldn't want to say anything to me. "I'm sorry that this had to happen. I know you didn't have a really good past with those two."

When he didn't say anything in reply I was about to step away. "What are you apologizing for?" I looked back at him. "It's my fault you all were dragged into this." He said grimly.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up like this."

He looked away again I could feel him tense up. I let my hand drop to my side and watched him for a moment. "Don't touch me." He said in a tone I never heard him use before.

"I'm sorry…" I said.

"You shouldn't be sorry," he looked down at the floor, he somehow sounded scared. "it should be me…"

I frowned he was talking about something else. Just the way he sounded, there something else that was bothering him. "Daniel what did you do?" I asked in a calm voice.

He looked up with a glassy look in his eye. I could tell he wanted to tell me something but just wouldn't.

"This is as far as I can take you." I heard Leo say. She stopped at a double door and motioned for Daniel to use the keys. He quickly brushed past me and opened the door. "Good luck Voltron." Leo said giving me a nodded before running off.

I'd have to speak with Daniel later.

Then minute I stepped outside I nearly died. A spear came out of nowhere and nearly hit me in the face. Luckily I managed to dive out of the way in time. "You alright?" Lance asked helping me up. I looked around to see if I could fine where the spear had come from.

"Yeah I'm fine…if I hadn't gotten out the way in time then I would have been the opposite." I replied.

Daniel shrank backwards with a frightened expression. I followed his gaze and saw who had thrown the spear. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave with your lives." He said as he prowled over. The man's eyes hesitated on Daniel for a moment before moving on to me. He smirked and looked unimpressed by something. "How pathetic that you chose to side with these people. What can they offer you?" he sneered.

Daniel looked frozen with fear. He looked ready to runaway right now. I stepped out in front of him shielding him from view. "You must be Aiden…" I said.

He smirked. "And you must be his new mentor. I'm surprised Daniel," he said arching a brow, "I thought you could have done better."

"Keith…don't." I heard Daniel warn.

"What does he want?" I asked him.

"To kill you…"

I grimace. "Who doesn't"

Aiden chuckled. "So you want to fight me?" he brushed past me and retrieved the spear that was thrown at me. I pushed Daniel back.

"No!" he shouted. I looked over my shoulder and gave him a look. He reluctantly stepped back.

"Lance you take the others to the Lions I'll try to catch up." I told him.

Lance nodded and grabbed Daniel when he looked ready to resist. He looked over at Aiden who smiled darkly at him. "I don't see a problem…if he wants to stay….then let him stay." He said.

"This fight is between me and you." I growled trying to get Aiden's attention off of Daniel. However it didn't seem to work. He was dead set on trying to mess with him.

Aiden took a step toward Daniel. "Danny I won't hurt you I only want to test something." He said in a bland tone. I didn't like it.

Lance didn't look too happy about it either. He looked ready to fight if Aiden took a step closer. Seeing his defiant look Aiden just chuckled. "I'm going to say this once…move away." He said warningly to Lance. When he didn't move Aiden sighed lifted his and flicked his wrist, Lance went flying backwards. Before Daniel could retreat away Aiden grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him away. "He should have done as I told him. If he did then I wouldn't have had tried to hurt him." He growled.

"Aiden leave them alone." Daniel shouted.

I advanced forward. "Let him go." I warned. "Haven't you done enough?"

Aiden pushed Daniel back and he stumbled onto the ground. "There's still so much you don't know about. You can either back down or you can fight a battle you'll lose." He said gripping the spear at his side. I looked over at Daniel. "He's not going with you…" he said following my gaze.

I narrowed my eyes. "He's not staying here either."

"You gonna take him from me?" Aiden smirked and lifted his spear.

I gritting my teeth and beckoned him closer. Aiden laughed and lunged forward with his spear. I managed to parry the first blow the second one I wasn't so fortunate to block. It dug deep into my skin below my ribs and sent me to the ground. Aiden smiled and raised the spear for a final blow but stopped short. Instead he stabbed my leg and I cried out in agony. He stepped away and grabbed Daniel by the arm pulling him to his feet.

"Aiden leave him alone!" I snarled as I got to my feet. Immediately I collapsed back to the ground unable to bare the pain in my leg. Aiden smiled smugly and dragged Daniel closer. It made me feel horrible that I couldn't do anything but see him look terrified. I could barely stand on my injured leg. "Let him go!" I grunted.

"Oh don't worry I'll let him go." He said grabbed a fistful of Daniel's hair. "Take the spear and drive it through his heart." He snarled shoving the spear into his hands.

"What…" Daniel whispered incredulously.

Aiden grabbed his shoulder. "You shouldn't even care Danny," he looked in contempt at me, "He doesn't have anything to offer you. All Voltron is doing is holding you back from your full potential. Daniel you don't need them."

I glared at him. "Shut up…don't tell him that." I heard Lance say.

Aiden snorted and glared over at him. "You don't learn your lesson do you?" while he was distracted Daniel tried to make a quick escape. However he didn't get far. "I'm only trying to help you Daniel. If you let go of Voltron you'll be stronger…free."

Daniel looked at me. "But I…" I muttered.

"You don't need them," he said I saw Daniel tighten his grip on the spear. "I know that you don't want to trust me and you don't have to. I'm only saying that it'd be better for you to leave Voltron."

"What does killing him have to do with anything?" he asked glaring back at Aiden.

"You hate him Daniel…deep inside you know you do." Aiden replied I narrow my eyes he was trying to play mind games with him. That made me even angrier and I felt even more useless. "It's simple just stab him through the heart. Since when have you ever been given the respect you wanted by them?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes but didn't fight back like he was doing. His entire body had stiffened all of a sudden. Was he really listening to what Aiden was say. "Daniel he's only playing with you…" I told him but I didn't seem to get through to him. His glared turned to me. "Daniel don't…"

It was useless Aiden was making sure I could get through to him. He was trying to keep Daniel's attention. "They don't care…Daniel. But that's your choice." He backed away.

"I'm glad he's gone…" Lance said when Aiden left. He was about to make his way over when he stopped. "Daniel?" he asked seeing that he hadn't moved at all.

I didn't like the look in his eyes. Aiden had gotten into his head somehow. "Daniel put the spear down. Don't let what Aiden said get to you, after what he's done to you in the past are you really going to listen to him?" he didn't say anything, I saw him tighten his grip on the spear as if he were thinking about using it.

"Give it to me Daniel." Lance command as he began walking over.

Daniel smirked. "I don't think so…" he pointed the spear at my chest. I looked in his eyes, he was going to do this he's going to kill me!

"Daniel give me the spear!" Lance said again in a wary tone. He now had slowed his pace.

"Daniel," I said, "you don't want to do this…"

He looked at me in hatred. "You don't know anything about me!" he snarled and threw the spear.

/

**Note: ** _Sorry to say this guys but I'm discontinuing this fanfic. I've simply lost the inspiration. Also before you threaten me with pitch forks…..I lied see you in the next chapter love you all! *runs away*_

_P.S. This chapter kind of foreshadows a sequel so be ready for that after this one is finished.=D_

**Next Chapter: "Backstabbed"**


	9. Chapter 9 includes special preview

**Note: **_Well this chapter has a special preview for a fanfic I'm working on. It will be shown at the end of this chapter._

/

**IX**

**Backstabbed**

**Keith POV**

"You don't know anything about me!"

I braced myself for the blow when I saw the spear fly from his hand. There was a loud thud beside me and I saw that it had stabbed into the ground inches from my shoulder. I looked up at Daniel in relief. "Daniel…"

He dropped to his knees.

Lance came over and helped me to my feet. "Come on Danny let's get out of here. The soldiers are coming…" he said but Daniel wouldn't move. I could see tears running down his face.

"Daniel let's go…we need to leave now." I told him but he shook his head.

"…I'm sorry…" he whispered.

I sighed. "Listen we can talk about this later now come on!"

He looked up at the two of us. I never seen him look so sad before; he looked so broken. He was right I didn't know anything about him. There was so much to Daniel that I didn't. His past being one of them and it was tearing him a part. "Get up." I said, "we need to go Daniel please just get up. It wasn't you're fault now come on."

He looked surprised. "I tried to kill you!"

I grimaced and looked away, I hated how he looked at me. "Daniel we can talk about this later. Now please," I begged, "let's go…"

He shook his head. "No!" I winced, he looked terrified.

"Daniel please we need to get out of here!" Lance said.

Daniel nodded and stood up. I gave him a weak smile but he avoided looking at me. There was just no way to get close to him now. He's acting completely different from how he usually did. That's what worried me the most. I wasn't used to seeing Daniel look so upset.

…

We managed to make it safely back to Arus with no trouble at all. No soldier came after us but I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. It was probably from all that we've been through. I was also concerned about Daniel. A day after we returned I noticed how he always would stay away from us. He's become suddenly distant; every time one of us tried to talk to him he'd always find a way to escape.

I managed to catch him one day. He didn't like it but I wouldn't let him leave until I got him to talk. "Daniel we need to talk about some things…" I told him, "You're starting to worry us about how you're acting. Why are you trying to distant yourself from us?" I asked.

He looked at the floor. "This isn't over yet…" he whispered.

I frowned. "What do you mean?" I asked him. He sounded so grim that it made my skin crawl. I reached out to grab his shoulder but he ducked out of reach.

"Aiden and Nat aren't done with us yet." With that said he brushed past me. I stood there and thought about what he said. How could he be so sure about that. I looked off in the direction he walk in. There was a lot Daniel wasn't letting us in on. That fact alone made me suspicious of him.

I decided I needed to go talk to Allura for awhile.

….

**Daniel POV**

_Do I trust them? Do I even care about them?_

I kept asking and asking myself these questions over and over again. In fact I've been asking myself these questions so much that it felt like torture. Aiden and Nat just thinking about them made my head hurt. I also felt horrible about what had happened to me. Just thinking about that made me feel horrible, I had almost killed Keith.

I shuddered and leaned against the wall. Everyone thought that it was over because we managed to escape. They were wrong, if they knew what Leo told us they'd realize that things were about to get so much worse. Nat and Aiden were going to come back again. I didn't know what they wanted with me, their sudden interest in me made me nervous. Then there was Dolus coming up again. What was happening?

_Something he wants._

What's he after? The fact that he suddenly came after the Voltron Force made me feel even worse. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my head. Why was I so stressed about all of this? It was only going to drive me insane having to worry about all of this. That last thing the team needed was me losing my mind in all of this chaos.

"There's so much more to this…" I muttered to myself. There was just a certain bad vibe I had. Things were going to get a lot worse from here on out. "I don't like it…"

"What?"

I opened my eyes and saw Larmina standing there looking at me curiously. She probably heard some of what I was saying to myself. "Nothing it's nothing…" I told her before walking off. She fell into step beside me refusing to leave the conversation at that. Why was everyone bothering me like this, I wanted to bare this alone. "Go away Larmina…" I snapped hoping I could probably scare her away with my temper. Unfortunately it didn't work she still stayed with me.

I picked up my pace but she still kept up. "Daniel it's okay it's all over. You're far away from those two."

I snorted. "Yeah right."

She stopped and I continued walking. Seconds later she jogged until she managed to catch up with me. "What does that mean?" she asked scowling.

"If you think Nat and Aiden are going to leave me alone after that then your blind." I growled in retort.

"You mean they'll still be after you? Will they come here?" she asked in worry.

I nodded grimly, I wished it wasn't true. They weren't finished with me yet and Voltron was in the way. They'd be put in danger, Nat and Aiden wouldn't let anything stand in their way until they got what they wanted. The thought of running away crossed my mind. If I did I'd lead them away from here; no one else would have to be hurt.

_Do I care?_

Did I care about any of them, or was that just Nat trying to get into my head? I shook my head I shouldn't let myself think like that.

Larmina who had been quiet for awhile finally spoke up. "How do you know they're coming after you though Daniel? It just sounds to me like you're paranoid."

I gave her a weak smile. "Bad vibe." I replied.

"You know something." She said her eyes widened. I glared warningly at her, not wanting to put up with her questioning. She looked hurt but that didn't stop her from talking. "Daniel what do you know? If it's something important then we have to tell the rest of the team!"

I grabbed her arm. "Listen I'm not too sure about all of this myself. I'll need to figure at more things before I can tell any of you anything!" I snarled then I released her arm and stormed away. Once again she ran to catch up with me. It was starting to get on my nerves, I wanted to be alone!

"You people have something else better to do besides interrogate me?" I growled.

"We're all worried about you." She replied absently rubbing her arm. I felt a little guilty for grabbing her like that.

"Well stop it," I told her, "all of you need to stop worrying about me, I'll be fine. Like I told you before….there a just some things I can't talk about with you."

She crossed her arms. "You can't keep hiding things from us Daniel don't you trust any of us?" I tried not to noticeably wince when she said that. That was exactly the problem. "Please just tell me what's going on." She stopped me and forced me to look at her. I grimaced at her pleading expression.

"Larmina I…"

"Daniel please…just tell me."

Guilt made me look away from her. It made me feel even worse when I didn't answer her. "Look I have nothing to say to you so just back off."

She sneered. "Fine you jerk." She pushed out of the way as she past me. I looked at the floor as she left refusing to look up. After that I was feeling even guiltier. A thought past through my head but I pushed it away quickly and continued walking. The thought came back again.

_You're going to lose them all and when you do there will be no one there to help you. You can't pushing them away like this, you need them._

….

**Keith POV**

"Daniel's still keeping a lot from us." I said looking up at the sky. We were taking a walk outside.

Allura nodded. "He does seem like he's hiding more. It bothers me a lot to see him like this it also makes me nervous around him. He always has that dark clouded look in his eyes."

"I know…" ever since we got out of there Daniel seemed like he had a lot on his mind. The fact that he was keeping so many things from us made me wary of him. I hated to say it but he was becoming very suspicious.

"I thought you were supposed to be dead…"

We both stopped when we heard the voice. My body stiffened when I recognized it. "Why are you here?" I asked Aiden without turning to look at him. Allura looked over at me nervously.

"You know why…now where is he? I promise you I'll leave peacefully if you hand Daniel over he replied." I turned to look at him.

"You're obsessed aren't you?" I snapped.

He shrugged. "Maybe I am…"

I looked back at Allura and said in a low enough voice only she could hear. "Go find Daniel and try to get him as far away from here as possible. Don't tell him anything don't answer any of his questions." She nodded and headed to the castle.

Aiden smirked. "I'm surprised that you recovered quickly and I'm even more surprised Daniel spared your life." He said snidely.

I hated how he brought that up as if it were some kind of joke. If Daniel were ever friends with this guy I certainly didn't see anything to like about him. "Daniel has a stronger will power than you think. You couldn't convince him enough to kill me." I retorted.

His amused expression disturbed me even more. "Whoever said I convinced him to do it. I merely gave him the right nudge and he nearly went through with it. You are aware that he doesn't care about you."

"Shut up!" I snarled.

He continued talking with an amused expression. "You don't know anything about him so why are you bothering to protect him? Do know how much he has kept from all of you?"

I looked at the ground, I didn't want to admit it but he was right. Daniel does seem like he's keeping a lot from us. My senses sudden screamed at me to look up and I saw Aiden charging right at me with a spear. I jumped out of the way quickly only being grazed by the tip of the spear. Aiden grinned when he saw my incredulous expression. He tried to take a coward's shot.

"I know you're girlfriend went off to find Daniel. Just because I'm not anywhere near him doesn't mean I can't get to him." Aiden growled twirling his spear around. He paced back and forth studying me looking for an opening. "Hate is an even stronger bond than love, he'll come to me. So I don't even have to worry about tracking him down."

"Then I'll just have to keep him away from you."

He laughed. "The last time you tried that he could have killed you. It's a shame he didn't now I'm stuck with shutting you up."

….

**Allura POV**

"What's going on? Where are you two taking me?" Daniel demanded as me and Lance dragged him along. He was going fighting it was a good thing I got Lance to help me otherwise I'd be covered with bruises.

Lance had both of Daniel's arms pinned. I had a feeling that Daniel knew what was actually going on. Just seeing that look in his eyes he seemed to know that Aiden was here. "Just calm down we're only going for a little walk." Lance said trying to keep him from running off. Daniel had been pretty confused when we came for him and when we didn't answer his questions he began to resist.

"Let go! Let me go!" he demanded trying to break from Lance's grip. I looked back at him in worry if he was trying to get away then he must have known Aiden's here.

"Daniel please," I told him in attempt to get him to at least calm down a little, "you need to calm down. You're only going to hurt yourself."

He glared at me but he stopped fighting Lance. "What's going on?" he asked quietly.

Lance and I looked at each other skeptically. "Just come on we need to go."

However Daniel stopped and refused to move.

"Look Danny boy I'm not afraid to drag you with me. Now come on we don't have time." Lance said.

Daniel took several steps back and glared at us. Lance tried to get close but he only backed away even further. He was being stubborn, we didn't have time for this! "I told you I could handle Nat and Aiden myself. You guys don't need to protect me because this isn't your fight!" he snarled before running away from us.

"Daniel wait." I called out, I was about to go after him but Lance stopped me.

"No matter what we say to him he won't listen. We can't stop him…" he told me grimly.

I shook my head. "Something's not right though Lance. I just have this bad feeling that if Aiden gets his hands on Daniel…" I trailed off. Aiden wasn't like a normal human I could tell that much. "We need to get him back before Aiden sees him."

….

**Daniel POV**

I ran outside and looked around. In the distance I saw Keith and Aiden fighting. I had to get there in time. Before I could even take a step forward I was grabbed from behind. "Lance!" I shouted trying to escape his hold.

"Daniel don't be stupid Aiden could kill you!" he told me while. I managed to get free once but he only catch me again. He was getting on my nerves, all of them were, they thought that they needed to protect me from Aiden. It was my fault Aiden and Nat became involved in all this, they didn't have to fight my battles for me! "Daniel you can't go out there!"

I still continued to fight him. This was my problem everyone just needed to go away. "I don't care if he wants to kill me. If that's all he wants to do then fine let him if it'll make him leave then let him!"

"Daniel you're out of your mind!" Lance threw me to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me from impact. I glared at him. "You want to die?"

"If that's what'll make Nat and Aiden stop then so be it." I retorted.

"You idiot!" he grabbed me by the front of the shirt. "What's wrong with you Daniel? We're trying to help you, snap out of it!"

I just glared at him, I didn't know what to say in reply. They just didn't understand, I didn't need their help, all I wanted was for them to stay out of this. Finally he let me go and sighed. "Lance…." I began. He looked agitated with me. "…this is my problem."

"That doesn't mean you need to handle it yourself!"

"You don't know what he's capable of!"

"And you do?"

I shut my mouth then. I just knew Aiden and Nat were stronger than me, I had no idea what they could do. Seeing that I was stumped Lance smiled. "Thought so…" he said sounding smug. I promised myself I wouldn't do this. Not even if I were in a real fight, not even if someone were trying to kill me. Lance would hate me for breaking his leg later on but I needed to get down there to Aiden. I kicked my foot out and hit him as hard as I cold in is shin. There was a satisfying cracking noise and Lance went down. Quickly I got to my feet and hit him in the chest before taking off. Something Nat taught me.

"Daniel!" I heard him scream in rage. If I managed to survive this then Lance was going to kill me. "DANIEL NO!" he shouted again but I blocked him out.

He could scold me later. That is assuming I'd be alive when later came.

….

I ran as fast as I could. "Aiden!" I snarled to get his attention.

He turned when he heard me call his name and smiled at Keith. He parried a blow from him and backed away. "I told you Keith the bond of hate is stronger than love! He couldn't stop himself from coming." He laughed.

Keith gave me a harsh look. "You shouldn't be here Daniel."

"Well neither should you but you're still here." I snapped back.

"Daniel never mind that now go back to the castle. It's safer there I don't want you getting hurt!"

"I know it's safe there but why are you…"

"Daniel!"

Aiden chuckled and got the both of our attentions. He twirled his spear around and prowled closer. His eyes darkened, all amusement was gone now. I felt the overwhelming grip of fear but I didn't let it take over. "You ready to die Daniel?" he hissed pointing the spear at me. I watched him warily. "Don't worry you won't die now. I just need you to come with me okay?"

Keith grabbed my arm and whirled me around to face him. "You shouldn't be here. Daniel run away just run!" he snapped pushing me in a random direction. I gave him a defiant look but he pushed me again. "Daniel go get out of here!"

Aiden sneered. "I'm taking him with me!" he lunged forward at us with the spear and Keith pushed me away as he dodged and parried. For a brief moment I saw Aiden rest his eyes on me, something flickered through them.

I ran.

….

**Keith POV**

I managed to shove Aiden back. He tried to get past me to go after Daniel but I struck him in the ribs. "Stay away from him." I growled forcing him backwards.

"Don't try to stop me." He snapped stabbing my arm. I grunted in pain and managed to pull away. No I couldn't lose this fight if I did he'd go after Daniel, I couldn't let him win! "There's so much you don't understand. So many things you don't know yet about that boy! If you knew what this was about then you wouldn't be so quick to protect him!" he lunged forward again and again, I could barely block all of them. I managed to cut him deep in the side which made him retreat back.

"I don't know what you're talking about or even if I want to know." I said. What this guy was talking about had me on edge. It made me worry about what it was Daniel was hiding from all of us.

I shook the thoughts from my head and lunged forward while Aiden was injured. He parried and jumped away. "Come on you can do better than that!" he dodged several more times.

I gritted my teeth he was playing this like a huge game. Looking over my shoulder I saw he was trying to get closer to Daniel. If this fight came too close to him he could be hit. I tried to force him back but he kept moving toward Daniel. It was either lose the fight or risk Daniel being injured. Both were something I couldn't afford to happen.

Aiden rushed forward and nearly sent me onto the ground. Before I could recover he brushed past me. He was going after Daniel! "No I said leave him alone!" I shouted managing to recover in time to whirl around and strike.

When I hit all I could see was his smug expression. No pain in his expression at all. My entire body stiffened when I had seen what happened. He had used Daniel as a shield the person I had hit…

My eyes widened. "No…"

"Try to remember how really stabbed you in the back Danny…" he said before retreating away.

I stood there still in shock at what I had done. I took my sword out of his body and Daniel collapsed forward. "I'm…sorry…I never meant for this to happen Daniel. I'm so sorry!" I whispered I felt him shudder in him arms. He needed help, if I didn't get him out of here he'd die. I needed to tell myself that.

I picked him up in my arms, his eyes were closed. "Daniel." I said his eyes fluttered weakly when he heard my voice. It reassured me that he responded this way. "You need to stay awake."

"It'll be over then…" he replied weakly, "they won't have any reason to come after me."

I shook my head. "Daniel you need to stay awake." His eyes fluttered shut again. "Daniel no stay awake! Daniel!"

/

**Note: **_Don't shoot me there will be another chapter after this and a planned sequel! So please just put the gun down! Lol also I felt bad for what I did last chapter so ch 10 and ch 11 will be double updates!_

_Now that I've said that here's a preview of my new Voltron fic called 'Black Tiger'!_

…

**? POV**

"So you're Lotor…" I said crossing my arms. He smirked and gestured for me to come closer.

"And you're the one who is accepting this job?" he asked.

I let out a small laugh. "Well when I heard you were hiring someone I thought I'd check it out. Besides I have my own few grudges against Voltron."

Lotor studied me for a long moment. I could tell he didn't trust me, my patience began to wear thin. If he wouldn't hire me then I was wasting my time being here. I needed to get this job. "I don't know Maahox what do you think?" Lotor asked looking over at his lacky, perhaps the most hideous thing I have ever seen.

Maahox chuckled. I could tell he didn't like me at all, the minute I walked in I noticed his disgusted looks. To show him my displeasure with him I glared at him murderously. He shrank back to my satisfaction. "Well uh sir he certainly has the right motive."

Lotor still looked very suspicious of me. I didn't blame him after all not many mercenaries showed true loyalty. "I only wish to take this job because me and the Black lion pilot…have some history. There are a few things I'd like to settle with him."

Lotor smiled. "Ah revenge I like that."

"So do we have a deal or not," I asked giving him a cocky grin. This job would be quite fun. "If not then I can take my business elsewhere." I turned and began to walk away.

"Not so fast!" I heard Lotor growl behind me.

I smiled smugly and turned back around. "Yes?" I asked.

"You're hired…also I hear about your ah little friend that will be helping you."

So he wants me for the Black tiger. I crossed my arms and cocked my head. "My robeast will be a challenge for them. I doubt Voltron will be able to stop it." Lotor looked satisfied at my answered. He nodded and waved me away.

"Very well I want you to destroy them for me."

I snorted. "Promise me one thing though," I said in a dark tone. Lotor looked bored and angry at this sudden request. However I wasn't going to go through with this job unless he agreed. "Commander Keith is mine. I will be the one who strikes him down!" I growled.

Lotor smiled. "You must have a very strong hate for the Black lion pilot. Very well he's all yours." He agreed.

"When would you like me to attack Voltron?"

"Now," he commanded. "I would like them to meet my new employee."

I chuckled and headed to my robeast. This would probably be the best job ever.

….

**Daniel POV**

"Ow!" I let out a yelp when Larmina flipped me onto my back. From where they were standing I thought I could hear Vince and Lance chuckling.

Larmina glared at me and helped me to my feet. "You weren't even trying!"

I rubbed the back of my head and gave Vince and Lance a dark look before answering her. "I'm just tired…I guess." I replied.

"Not getting enough beauty sleep?" she teased.

"Shut up…"

…

_I'm not sure when I'll post it though anyway see ya in the next chapter!_

**Next Chapter: Venomous Words, Poisoned Thoughts**


	10. Chapter 10

**X**

**Venomous Words, Poisoned Thoughts**

**Daniel POV**

"I don't know…"

"Maybe he was just trying to get in your head."

I stirred when I heard the voices. It was hard to tell if I were awake or if I were still sleeping. My head was full of clouds I couldn't think straight and all I could see was black. What happened to me?

"It was the way he said it Allura. Now that I think about it there's a lot about Daniel that none of us know."

Who was talking? I wasn't sure about what was happening, I couldn't wake up either. Maybe I was awake already, I didn't know. There was a wave of pain through my body and I groaned. What was happening, what's wrong with me?

"I think he's starting to wake up…"

"He's probably just stirring in his sleep. They told us he probably wouldn't gain consciousness for a few hours."

"I'd hate to leave him alone though, especially after what happened. Once Aiden knows he's okay he might come back for him."

"All I want to know is why they are after him anyway."

"It has something to do with what Aiden said."

"Well need to keep an eye on him then."

I wanted to wake up but at the same time I didn't want to. Every time I tried to open my eyes I'd only feel pain. It seemed like every attempt only hurt me. What happened to me though, why was I in pain? Vivid images formed in my head, I didn't understand them though. The images flickered and disappeared.

….

I opened my eyes slowly and winced against the light from the window. Immediately I felt a horrible throbbing and could barely breathe. It felt like something had stabbed me. I gasped in pain when I tried to sit up. "Doctors said that you shouldn't move around too much. You need to rest your body." I looked forward and saw someone leaning against the wall by the door. They came over and I saw that it was Keith.

When I saw him, everything began coming back to me. Aiden and Keith fighting, the horrible pain when I was hit. When Keith came close I tensed up. "How long have I been out?" I asked trying to keep the edge out of my voice. He could tell how nervous he made me feel.

"Only two days. The doctors thought you were going to sleep longer." He replied backing away to a comfortable distance. There was a remorseful expression in his eyes. "So how are you feeling?"

I looked down at my hands. "I'm fine if not a little sore."

"I'm sorry about what had happened."

I didn't look back up at him.

When he figured I wasn't going to answer Keith walked to the door. He hesitated there. "One of us will be back later on to check on you." I didn't even bother to make a response. He left. When he was gone a couple of tears fell down my face.

I should have died out there. It would have been better for everyone if that happened. Nat and Aiden would stop going after Voltron. "So are you going to come with us willingly? Or do we have to knock you out and drag you?"

I looked up and saw Nat and Aiden. The thought of screaming for help past my mind but I kept my mouth shut. There was no other real choice I had but to go with them. After all I had just woken up and I was recovering. If I fought them I'd only make it worse for myself and risk farther injury.

They both glared at me, they were willingly to literally drag me away. No one was around after all, it'd be easy for them to kidnap me. "It's an easy choice to make Daniel…" Nat said. I looked toward the window in silence. _Do I care? Maybe…possibly I don't care about them. _It didn't matter right now though.

"I'll only come with you on one condition," I finally replied blandly. Aiden looked at Nat and then they both nodded, "The Voltron Force has nothing to do with this…"

"You see that's the problem there Danny." Aiden said walking over to my bedside.

Nat crossed his arms. "Some of this does have to do with Voltron…"

….

I looked around the cell they had put me in. Luckily they didn't throw me in that same death trap that they put me in before. At least they had some mercy left inside them. Though they probably needed me for something, that's why they were keeping me alive up to this point. No one's told me anything yet though. I was still clueless about what they needed me for.

About this time I bet that everyone was going crazy searching for me. Right now I was actually feeling a little stupid, yeah now I was starting to think turning myself in was a bad idea. I looked down at the floor of my cell, this was the dumbest stunt I pulled yet! If I ended up alive at the end I'm going to be kicking myself. Everyone did everything they could to try and protect me, I ruined all of that by letting myself get caught. I felt sick for doing this.

"I'm surprised you haven't said anything about Voltron coming to get you."

I looked up and saw Nat standing on the other side of my cell. "Maybe they are maybe they aren't. What are you going to do if they don't try to come and rescue me?" I retorted refusing to let them break my spirit again.

He smirked. "They will…unless they've figured everything out which I doubt."

"What happened to you Nat," I asked shaking my head in pity. Nat use to be one of my best friends and now all he was now was a monster. It was like something had taken possession of his mind. "I use to respect you but now all I have for you is hate. Why are you acting this way, I thought you and Aiden were my friends."

He narrowed his eyes but just for a moment his expression softened. Just for a minute he looked confused and scared. Before I could actually confirm it his face hardened again. I stiffened under his dark gaze. "Things change, people grow up, not everything can stay pretty and nice." He said in an emotionless voice.

"That doesn't mean anything! You're right things change over time all the time…but you're wrong at the same time." I shouted standing to my feet. My whole body was trembling with rage. "Just because you changed…that doesn't mean you need to hate me!"

"I don't hate you Daniel, the only hate I see is coming from you." He replied still using that emotionless tone. It felt as if something jumped up and bit me. What was he trying to say, that I was the one responsible for the rivalry between us?

I backed toward the wall as another thought occurred to me. Nat had just said he didn't hate me. After all he had put me through, all of the bad memories I had because of him and he tells me this! I knew I shouldn't believe him it was just a trick to get me to trust him again so he can stab me in the back again. I laughed, "You think if you say that everything will be fine again? Nat you two tried to kill me when I was eleven why should I ever forgive you?" was my snide reply. Nat snorted and walked away from the cell. I could just see him outside leaning against the catwalk. His shoulders were sagged and his head was down.

For a moment I felt bad for him. He reminded me of the old Nat, the one that I always saw as my brother back then. Maybe I was wrong about him, maybe he still was my friend. "I don't care if you forgive me or not." His dark tone he had taken on changed my mind completely. This was Nat now there was nothing nice or merciful about him now. He's changed. "Once this is all over you'll be dead and I won't ever have to worry about you again. "

Then I hated him again. Now I really wished I hadn't been so stupid, I should have at least tried to fight. Here I was now stuck in this cage alone with no one there to help me. Everyone must be going insane looking for me. I felt regretful for pushing them all away, right now I needed their help. There was nothing I could do for myself in this condition I'd be overpowered easily.

"Look at me Daniel…" Nat commanded. I looked back up and met his eyes with a cold look. He knew I was helpless though, there wasn't anything I could do. "It doesn't matter if they come today or if they come tomorrow or if they even come next week. They will not be able to stop it, you will not be able to stop it."

I had to lean against the wall for support; it hurt to stand. "But what exactly is going to happen to me and what does it have to do with Voltron?" I asked; my head began to throb and I began to feel exhausted.

He shook his head. "I'm not allowed to say."

Why was he keeping it from me, what was it that I was needed alive for? Whatever it was I was needed to corporate. I didn't know the consequences if I didn't follow their directions. "Does that mean you don't care…or you don't know." I replied with a smug smile. He couldn't do anything to me, especially since I was in this cell he couldn't reach me.

Nat looked ready to choke me though. Realizing that he couldn't lay a hand on me he began pacing trying to get a hold of his temper. "If I told you then you'll try to resist. You can't fight this Daniel, no matter how many times you try you're not getting out of this."

I didn't like the sound of that, it sent a chill down my spine. "What do you mean I can't fight it?"

"You're…different Daniel." Nat replied with the hint of amusement.

"Different?"

"Being different isn't a bad thing you know. Sometimes it means power and success. If no one were different then this world would be a living nightmare." He continued, "But you Daniel…you are something else another kind of different." His dark green eyes rested on me for several seconds.

I cringed back against the wall, my head was beginning to hurt even more. Just ignore him, Nat just wants to freak you out, he's insane now. I just need to tune him out he was talking about nothing. He seemed to sense my denial. "You'll see soon enough Daniel." He said before walking away.

When he was gone I let myself collapse to the floor. My whole entire body ached I wished I hadn't gone so willingly. This injury was weakening me; I closed my eyes unable to keep myself awake any longer. I was surprised I was so exhausted, especially with my heart racing so fast. It still bothered me about what they wanted with me. No one would tell me anything and that actually scared me.

….

**Larmina POV**

I managed to get my aunt to let me come here to check on Daniel. At first it was just going to be Lance and Keith because they wanted to ask him some question. However we both agreed it would be best if he could just relax if he didn't have someone interrogating him. Besides that I really wanted to see him and how he was doing.

Daniel has had it rough in the past few days. I felt bad for him, it amazed me that he hasn't lost his mind yet.

The nurse led me down to his room. "He might not be awake though. His injuries are quite severe and he may need to rest a lot." She told me when were at the door before she left me.

I sighed and entered the room. It was dark and disturbingly quiet. "Daniel?" I called his name and walked over to his bed. He was gone. Daniel was gone he wasn't in his bed; I looked around the room to see if he were anywhere else but saw it was empty. No…I couldn't believe it he was gone just like that! "Daniel!" I called out again this time sounding more panicked. My heart began to race, please tell me the idiot didn't run away!

_Where could have gone? He shouldn't be able to go anywhere with major injuries. _

That's when I felt the dread rise on the inside. Someone took him.

I was almost shaking to bad to lift me arm and speak into my voltcom. "We have problem." I said.

"Larmina what is it," I heard Keith reply, "you sound scared."

That's because I was scared. "Daniel's gone." I said and I knew Aiden and Nat had him. He was in danger and we had to get to him in time.

….

"I should have stayed!" Keith snarled while pacing back and forth. He had come to the hospital angry and had become even angrier when no one realized something was wrong. Right now he was kicking himself for not making sure Daniel had been safer. "I knew Aiden would've tried coming after Daniel while he was vulnerable."

"Keith calm down, Nat and Aiden would have come back for Daniel anyway." Pidge said.

"But the fact that I let my guard down…" he replied with scorn.

"Even if you were with him Keith they would have ambushed you or something." Pidge replied, he cringed when he saw the glare Keith gave him.

We were all uptight about what happened but Keith was taking it the hardest. He was agitated that he wasn't able to do anything. "Look we can find out where they took him. We found them once and we can find them again. Now stop pacing you're giving me a headache!" Lance snapped.

Keith glared at him then his expression softened. "You're right…"

I looked at the floor. There was something going on with Daniel, I was scared that he might have actually gone with them. He seemed so determined to keep all of us away. The thought worried me so much that I felt dizzy. Why would he want them to kidnap him?

If I told everyone my concerns then they'd probably become even more stressed. I remembered how he acted so evasive before. Were things really that bad for him? He knew something was wrong, he knew that there may be something darker to all of this. "What if this is another trap?" I said. It could be, but I didn't know why Nat and Aiden would need us. They seemed only interested in Daniel; more like obsessed. Yeah obsessed was the word that could describe them most.

"It's definitely not the first time they baited us." Keith muttered.

"If it is what do we do?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Honestly I don't know what to do. If Nat and Aiden are trying to lead us into a trap again we have no choice."

"Walking right into the trap again." Lance muttered. He hasn't really had a calm attitude ever since Daniel broke his leg. Now he's stuck on crutches and I bet feeling helpless.

I sat back down beside Vince. He was looking even more grim than Keith was. "You think he gave himself up too?" I whispered so the others couldn't hear me. He nodded with a pained expression.

"That makes things even worse." He replied lifting his head and looking at the window. "If Daniel really did let Aiden and Nat take him without a fight then we now know things are about to get worse."

"What do they want Daniel for?" I sighed.

It was starting to worry me a lot. I was sure they didn't want him just because they grew up together. There was someone else who wanted him, someone who was giving them orders to kidnap Daniel. Who it was is what we needed to find out. I wondered if that Dolus guy Leo mentioned was behind the whole thing. It had to be him; but what would he want with someone like Daniel?

I hated to think about that. However something else was bugging me, we didn't know what it was that wanted from Daniel. He hasn't told us anything yet either. Though it made me feel horrible to think about it, Daniel was becoming harder to trust. There were so many things he still probably hasn't told us yet. What was he trying to hide from us, was it really that bad? I sighed and looked down at my hands. Whatever we were going to do, I just hoped Daniel would be okay.

….

**Nat POV**

I left Daniel unconscious in his cell. Finally he had shut his mouth, it surprised me that he's managed to stay awake this long. His injuries were very severe, I was expecting him pass out on the way here. Hopefully he would be in good condition when Dolus came to take him off our hands.

As I walking I couldn't help but feel some worry for the kid's condition. He needed medical staff and plenty of rest. I sighed, later on we'd transport him to the medic center. The last thing we need was a dead teenager on our hands. Plus we needed him healthy if we were going to use him for the plan.

I eyed a guard the past by me. It was one of our new recruits a teenage girl. "Miss Raynes may I ask where you are going?" I demanded when she past me. Lately I've been noticing this certain soldier leaving post a lot. This occurrence has mostly been happening when the members of Voltron Force had been here. I turned around and prowled closer keeping her in my gaze. "When you are addressed by your superiors you face them Miss Raynes."

She stiffly turned around and removed her helmet so she could meet my eyes. "Yes sir?"

"I was asking where you were off to," I said drily as I searched her face for any signs of deception. Maybe I could use my powers to push her into telling me what I wanted to hear. She was beginning to act suspicious and when one of our soldiers began acting suspicious things became harder to manage, "You should be at you post guarding the second floor. Who authorized you to come down here to the cell blocks?" I asked.

I thought I saw a sliver of panic in her eyes. "Oh sorry sir I was down here looking for you. My mind must have been so clouded with thoughts that I walked right by you!" she rambled. How pathetic, she was lying to me.

"Miss Raynes I hate liars," I growled, I felt the familiar sensation of cold swirl around my body. Aiden always warned me not to use my powers to punish the soldiers but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I bruised this little traitor. She backed away a couple of steps; only someone who was guilty would make such a move. I knew she must've been hiding something. "I hate them with a passion…liars sometimes turn out to be traitors." She stumbled back even more however I kept advancing. "We here do not tolerate traitors. Am I making myself clear Miss Raynes?"

She cringed back against the railing on the catwalk. I thought of how easy it would be to just push her over the edge and make it seem like an "accident". Just like that she would be gotten rid of. "You are to answer your superiors. Now I'm going to ask again Miss Raynes. Am. I. Clear?"

"Y-yes sir crystal…" she blinked several times.

I smirked as the cold became even stronger. "Now tell me where were you headed soldier?" I demanded in a soft tone. There was a flicker of fear in the girl's eyes. Fear…it was a weakness that I no longer let hold me down. I showed no sympathy or tolerance for the fearful.

The soldier didn't answer me, from the way she was tensed up I could tell she was about to run. "Go ahead I'll give you a head start Leo…" I hissed menacingly. "Go on run."

Typically she ran away like they always did. I watched her run down the catwalk to Daniel's cell. For a minute I wonder if I should let her get him out; not like she'd be able to get him far. Seconds later I changed my mind and lifted my hand clenching it into a fist. Dark energy began to smolder around it resembling fire. Then I pointed my fist at the soldier's back and spread open my palm. The dark energy shot forward quickly and slammed into her sending her flying several feet before hit the floor.

I strolled over casually and nudged her in the side with my foot. She groaned and lifted her head weakly. I opened my palm and a wave of invisible energy struck her; knocking her out. "I'm not fond of traitors Leo Raynes. You're lucky I didn't kill you immediately girl."

After I called a couple of soldiers to come and retrieve her I immediately stormed to Aiden's room. When I walked in he noticed my dark expression. "Something wrong Nat?" he asked in a bland tone.

"One of our soldiers has been playing spy." I replied.

His narrowed his eyes. "Have they been caught?"

"Yes…I have a feeling she has been listening to our conversations. She was headed down to the cell blocks no doubt to speak with Daniel about it."

Aiden's eyes widened when I told him this. He looked almost as enraged as I felt. "She didn't get a chance to reach Daniel?" he demanded.

I shook my head. "No I stopped her from reaching his cell. Daniel is still in the dark about everything."

"Good," he replied calming down a little more, "if he knew anything then I doubt he'd want to cooperate. It's very important that we have him do this without fighting. At least when the time comes he won't have time to run away."

I crossed my arms. "Aiden I have a feeling though…" I began nervously, Daniel wasn't a little kid he understood a lot of things. He wasn't stupid but I wished he wasn't so bright.

Aiden eyed me. "You think Daniel may already know his fate?" he asked my with a arched brow. I nodded and he snorted. "Impossible!"

"Not entirely." I replied. "You always see Danny as that same little kid he was four years ago. He's grown up Aiden…plus there's no telling what he was told by that soldier. I'm pretty sure she managed to tell him a few things the first time."

"Then we will have to interrogate the traitor." He replied after a long silence.

"I have a question though."

He gave me an impatient look. "What is it?"

"Dolus is supposed to come and retrieve Danny. What happens if the Voltron Force comes to rescue him before Dolus arrives?"

He glared at me for a long time. I could tell he was irked by this question. He was angry at me for pointing out the flaw in the plan, everything would go downhill. "We'll keep them busy…they will NOT take him away from here. I don't care if they have to be gutted…they will NOT escape alive!" he snarled.

"I'm not sure Dolus would like us killing them off." I replied amused at his vicious attitude.

"Then we can't LET THEM ESCAPE!" he shouted.

….

**Keith POV**

"You think they took him back to that planet?" Lance asked.

I looked away from the window. "Yeah…they seemed to want to keep Daniel there."

I tried not to show pity for Lance. He wouldn't be able to help us in his condition. Though even I he were I didn't want him attacking Daniel for breaking his leg. It would probably be best to leave him behind anyway to keep an eye on Arus. We'd managed fighting with one less lion…hopefully.

"Daniel should have explained things to us. He keeps hiding them though, he won't tell us anything." I muttered.

Lance glanced over at Larmina and Vince with a frown. "I'm pretty sure he'd have to tell someone." He said grimly. I followed his gaze over to the two cadets who were having a private conversation of their own. They haven't spoken up in awhile; neither of them had. Lance was right about his suspicions I wouldn't put it past those two to cover for Daniel either.

"Things just got worse though," I said; Vince and Larmina sensed they were being watched and looked up. They gave me and Lance nervous looks before returning to their conversation every once in awhile one of them would look over here, "I doubt they would keep anything important from us now. They're probably just as clueless as we are about Daniel."

"You're probably right about that." He sighed.

We needed to get Daniel back. I knew that much but there was a sense of foreboding in the back of my head. Every time I thought about Daniel I'd always feel it. There was this feeling like something bad was going to happen around him. It was weird because I never felt this bad vibe before up until now. Maybe it was because I knew there was something he was hiding? If it were some type of warning then I really needed to talk to Daniel if he knew something.

"Are you fine with staying behind?" I suddenly asked, I was trying to think about something else now.

"I can't see any other choice I have…" he replied looking grimly at the crutches he was on. At least he wasn't taking it as hard as I thought he would. "Also I don't like what's going on with Daniel. You might want to be careful when you're with him." He must be feeling the same way as me. I can assume everyone else was a little nervous about this. All of this just wasn't adding up right; there had to be something more to it. Daniel knew something, if he didn't tell us then it may be best just to be wary.

I sighed. "I don't like it either Lance," I replied grimly, "it's becoming harder and harder to recognize him. I've never seen him act like this before."

"I know…that's what has me on edge."

….

**Aiden POV**

"She knows everything…" Nat said over my shoulder.

We were looking at the security feed of the traitor soldier being interrogated. He was right she knew everything about the plan. She knew about Dolus and what he intended to do with Daniel. I sighed and rubbed my eye temples. We would have to deal with her somehow, I didn't just want to kill her or even just torture her. "I have an idea Nat…" I said when I realized she could become useful. Nat cocked his head and looked at me expectantly, "Miss Raynes is intent on helping Voltron right? So I'd say we let her continue being helpful."

Nat arched a brow. "I understand what you're saying but how can we get her to listen to us? I doubt she'd want to follow orders."

"She shall and she will." I replied darkly.

He nodded and walked away giving me more space. I was tense and I didn't need anyone hovering behind me. "What do you want me to do?" he asked me.

"Go to her holding cell and wait for me there." I replied quietly, "we can both 'convince' her."

He nodded and left the room. I stayed stilled for a long time before I finally let out a breath. So many people were opposing us, especially Daniel. Nat may have said that Daniel wasn't a little kid anymore but he knew no more than he did then. He couldn't understand what was going on, he didn't understand we were only trying to help him. We wanted him to be stronger and Dolus could give that strength to him.

I changed the feed to the one watching Daniel. He was lying unconscious in the cell. For a moment I felt worried that he had harmed himself then I realized he was injured. I remember that he was sporting a very major and severe injury. It would have taken a lot out of him. Why would he let us help him? He just doesn't understand…that's all it is he doesn't understand.

He didn't understand.

I sighed and swept out of the room to head down to meet Nat. There were other things we had to worry about. We needed to prepare for Voltron's little visit.

….

"Leo Raynes…" I said when I entered the room. She looked up at me with a hateful expression, I could also see exhaustion in her eyes. I looked over at Nat whom was looking very bored at the moment, he wanted to get this over with.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asked in a weak voice.

I watched her for a long time searching for any fear in her expression. She was keeping her face blank but I could see it in her eyes and she was trembling, she was terrified. "No…you're still useful."

She forced a laugh. "Great just my luck, I'm still working for you two." She growled.

I wished I could hit her, but the real damage would come later. She'd get what she deserved soon enough. My eyes began to glow with a dark light a cold sensation swirled around my body. "So you want to help the Voltron Force Miss Raynes? You want to play traitor is that it?" she cringed and squirmed under my gaze.

"I'd answer the question if I were you." Nat said as he came over. The girl looked over at him then back at me.

I saw defiance in her gaze. She spit in my face and gave me a smug look when I drew back. "You'll never win, you will never get what you want! The Voltron Force will stop you!" she screamed pulling against her bonds that were holding her back. I nodded at Nat and he stepped forward; with the snap of his fingers dark energy swarmed around the girl. She shrieked and began struggling even more.

The girl was struggling but it was all in vain. She couldn't break out of the darkness' grip. I began pacing back and forth watching her writhe in pain. "Leo can you hear me?" I asked. She whimpered in agony and she nodded stiffly as if she were being forced to. "Good girl." I smiled.

"We need you to do something for us Leo." Nat said.

"NO!" she screamed still fighting in vain. Her spirit was strong I had to admit that but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough to break the grip on her.

"You seem to want to help Voltron." Nat continued as if she hadn't made her little outburst. She screamed again in attempt to drown us out. "We'll let you help them then; you need to help them rescue Daniel after all right? You want him to be safe with them."

Tears were running down her face and she shook her head vigorously. Her movements were becoming more stiff and slow she wouldn't be able to resist for long. "Leave me alone!" she sobbed.

I came over and stood beside Nat. The dark energy was becoming more intense. "Don't worry you won't be punished for helping Voltron. In fact you're doing just what we need you to do." I told her in a calm voice. She shook her head again but she had suddenly gotten quiet. "You want to help Daniel right?"

Her eyes now looked glassy and she nodded stiffly. A couple of tears fell down her face. The dark energy began to dissipate around her; black electricity would jump around her body once in awhile.

I smiled. "Then help Voltron…help Daniel." she nodded again this time it was less stiff. "They can't leave though; not until it's the right time. Understand?" she nodded again.

"Good then you know what to do?" Nat asked her.

The girl stared forward with and blank gaze then blinked several times. The glassy look in her eyes was gone. She frowned and looked at the both of us. "Deceive them."

….

**Keith POV**

We were all headed back to the planet we went to before. It felt strange coming back here, after what had happened things just felt weird. Maybe I was feeling this way because I was anxious about Aiden and Nat's presence here. Or maybe it was that bad vibe I had about Daniel trying to push me back.

"These guys sure don't have much security outside…" Hunk commented.

_No kidding._

There were no security set up outside to attack us. Normally something like this would have made me relieved but I felt nervous instead. It was almost like they were inviting us in. They were trying to make this trap obvious.

"Just because none are waiting for us outside doesn't mean they aren't swarming to meet us on the inside." I said gripping the controls tighter.

"We just need to get in and get Daniel right now that's all we need to do. It would be better if we could avoid Nat and Aiden." Larmina said.

She and Vince had kept pressing us until we brought them along. I didn't want to drag them into this but they felt blamed for Daniel being found by Aiden and Nat in the first place. There was no stopping them though I much rather have left them with Lance. They were in danger here, they'd be killed. Then again any of us could easily be killed and this whole mission would be a failure.

I frowned; I was thinking about asking her if she knew anything but thought better of it. Even if she did she probably wouldn't want to talk. Despite them both being a little skittish about coming here they were a bit of an advantage. Daniel did say there was someone here that wanted to help. That girl whose name was Leo. There was no way we'd find her without them and she probably wouldn't approach us unless they were with us either.

When we landed no one attack us still. It made me even more anxious; it was another trap. We felt like I was walking toward my death.

….

We were walking down the hall that led to the cell blocks. To my surprise no soldier were marching around. No one came to stop us all the halls were deserted.

"What's going on…" Allura said nervously, "this place was flooded with soldiers the first time we were here."

"It's an ambush…"

We all turned and saw a girl in her teens peeking out from around the corner. She looked around before jogging over. "Listen I'm taking a huge risk right now. My captains have noticed me disappearing from my post before. They're trying to keep an eye on me." she looked back behind her with a worried expression. This must've been Leo.

"What happened?" Larmina asked.

Leo shook her head and grabbed her arm and began pulling her along. "I'm in huge trouble right now. There's an ambush planned for you and you have to hurry and get to the cell blocks now!" she sounded panicked.

I hurried to fall into step beside her. "Alright what else do you know?" I asked her, she looked at me nervously. Just as I thought she wasn't very trusting of me, she seemed to trust the cadets better. Probably because she had met with them first. I side stepped giving her a little more space. "Leo I don't mean to sound demanding but I need to know what they want with Daniel. Why'd they kidnap him?"

Larmina and Vince shared a nervous look. I'd have to ask them about that later on. Leo however gave me a blank stare; she looked like she was about to answer but stopped herself. It was probably just my imagination but I suddenly felt cold. However the cold feeling was gone as fast as it had came. "I really don't know what's going on. It's getting hard to actually spy on Nat and Aiden…" she replied.

I couldn't help but think her reaction was strange. However I wasn't able to think about because we were already in the cell blocks. My mind immediately went to helping Daniel. Leo led us up the stairs onto one of the catwalks. "I'll keep watch and make sure there aren't any guards sneaking up on you," she said coming to a stop and handing Larmina keys. "His cell is almost at the end. Now hurry!"

We continued down the catwalk without her. "She seemed…different." I heard Larmina mutter.

"Yeah she was making me nervous. There was something that's changed about her." Vince replied.

Pidge looked back at them with a concerned look. "You mean she wasn't like that when you met her?"

They both shook their heads. "No she seemed more collected about helping us. She didn't even seem nervous about anything." Vince said.

"Maybe she got in trouble or something." Pidge replied.

"Yeah but…" Vince looked at the floor. I could tell he didn't like it at all, it was bothering them both. "I'm just not sure about this. Something seemed so off about her…she wasn't herself."

I didn't know if I should be worried about that or not.

"Daniel?" I peered into one of the cells and saw him lying on the floor. "Daniel?" I called again but he wouldn't move. There was no response from him, no reaction at all. For a minute I thought he was dead; when I saw him breathing I was relieved. Anger rose in me that they'd just leave the kid here like this!

Once Larmina got the door opened I immediately ran to his side. He groaned when I grabbed him, his eyes opened a little. "…You shouldn't…you shouldn't be here Keith." He whispered.

I sighed. "Well neither should you…" he managed a weak smile.

/

**Note: **_I kind of wanted to show off what Nat and Aiden can do in this chapter. Also I'm not telling any of you what they want with Daniel you'll find out in the sequel! Mwhahahaha! Also if any of you are into rock/electro music check out Celldweller's song "So Long Sentiment" I think it kind of goes with this fic._

**Next Chapter: "Matters of Trust"**


	11. Chapter 11

**XI**

**Matters of Trust**

**Daniel POV**

All I could think was how much pain I was in and how tired I felt. I couldn't even find the energy to be mad at all of them. But I still felt a little more than nervous around Keith. The throbbing in my chest didn't help with it either.

"Can you stand?" he asked with one hand firmly grasped on my shoulder. I didn't want him touching me so I knocked his hand away.

"I'm fine…" I told him numbly as I forced myself to stand, it took a lot of will power not to scream in agony. The pain was too much.

I felt a little guilty for pulling away from Keith the way I did. It wasn't his fault though, he didn't stab me on purpose. Why am I acting so scared of him though? But I didn't want him touching me it made me shudder.

I had to limp to walk and I refused anyone's help. Every time they asked me if I needed help I'd snap at them. We stopped at the end of the catwalk, I was a little annoyed right now. Why were we stopping?

"Where's Leo?" Allura said.

I frowned. "Leo was here?"

Larmina nodded. "Yeah she led us down to the cell blocks." She told me while looking around. "She was supposed to be keeping watch for us. Where'd she go?"

"Why'd you all come here." I muttered under my breath looking at my feet. My body was trembling with rage. They shouldn't have come here, it's what Nat and Aiden wanted. When no one answered I looked up at them with a glare. They all looked confused. "Why are you here none of you should be here!" I shouted.

"Daniel what are you talking about? We're here to help you." Keith put a hand on my shoulder. There was a spark of anger that rose up inside me, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it. He pulled away abruptly and stared at me in horror.

What did I just do? I backed away nervously; why'd I hurt Keith? I shook my head trying to clear some of my anger. "Don't touch me…" I warned and brushed past him.

….

Maybe I was just grouchy from the pain I was in. Every move I made hurt; it was impossible to walk without feeling pain. I gasped and leaned against the wall; Vince gave me a look which I responded to with a glare. I didn't want anyone's help and I didn't need it. All I wanted was for them to keep their distance. Pain shot through my body again, I recalled the last time I wanted everyone to leave me alone. I ended up being stabbed and "kidnapped". Of course the word "kidnapped" might not be appropriate in my current situation since I went willingly.

These halls were strangely empty. I thought there'd be a whole bunch of soldiers patrolling around here. It made me wonder what Nat and Aiden had planned. This was another trap; I knew it was and they shouldn't have come here for me. I took another step and nearly collapsed. Keith grabbed my arm. "I don't need your help!" I snarled but he wouldn't let go.

"We don't have time for you to be falling over yourself now come on." He replied sternly. I didn't like it but I was relieve I had someone I could lean on. It made the pain easier to bear.

"Why are you here…" I asked quietly.

"Well we couldn't leave you here." Vince replied.

I shook my head sadly. They were in danger here, I didn't know what Nat and Aiden had planned for them but I knew it was bad. "They wanted you to come here though. Why'd you still come for me…you could all be killed…"

"Because when you're a team you can't leave others behind." Keith said without looking at me. I felt a little guilt rise. Being a team also meant that you didn't push your teammates away.

I didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. No one did until we meant up with Leo again. I couldn't help but notice something was off about her. While she was explaining why she left us I noticed how her personality has changed. She seemed more fragile and nervous; before she was clear minded and clever. Nothing bothered her but now she seemed so weird. I was reluctant to follow her but I didn't want to voice my concerns. Now wasn't the time to worry about little things like that. It still bothered me though.

Another wave of pain through my body took my mind off the thought. I felt exhausted again, all I wanted to do was rest. My vision blurred and my leg felt weak, the pain had become a lot worse. However Keith made sure I stayed on my feet and kept walking. I didn't deserve help like this; especially since I was always lying to everyone. Keith could've easily left me to die…but he didn't.

"Keith?" I began numbly, he looked at me , I could tell he was somewhat surprised I was talking to him. My mood had been dark and cold towards him so far. "I need to know something…"

He nodded. "Well I need to know a lot from you too."

I began to feel even guiltier. Keeping things from the team was not something I liked but there were just some things I didn't want them to know. It was better for me and them that way. "Please just leave Nat and Aiden to me if we ever run into them. I don't want anyone getting involved with them…they're too dangerous." I said keeping my gaze on the floor, I didn't want to see Keith's face when I said that. He wouldn't listen I knew he wouldn't. It wouldn't matter what I said he'd still go after them.

Keith frowned when I said this. "Daniel you can't take them on alone."

"Well neither can you!" I replied.

"Daniel this isn't the time to being talking about something like this." He sighed. "I can't let you go against them. You…"

"I am not weak." The words that came out of my own mouth surprised me too. It was the tone I said it in that surprised me the most.

Keith looked at me for a moment before saying. "I never said you were weak Daniel. I'm only saying it would be more dangerous for you to go against them alone."

I sighed. "I know that…"

Why did I feel so guilty when talking about this subject? Maybe it was because Keith was always telling me no. He wouldn't let me go against Aiden and Nat by myself. Why did he care so much…they were my problem; I know he was just trying to be a good leader but this was my own fight. If I had to die then so be it.

Keith simply didn't know what those two were capable of. They weren't anything like regular humans. More like demons. "Daniel why don't you want us to help you?" I heard him ask me. The others were casting me looks, they had been listening to our conversation.

"I'm going to tell you something about them okay…" I said grimly. We all stopped suddenly everyone was watching me with concern. It was almost amusing to see their expressions. They all use to the troublesome brash minded cadet I use to be. Not this gloomy bad tempered kid with a messed up past. I glared at them. "Nat and Aiden aren't easy to kill. A simple stab through the heart won't stop either of them."

Allura looked terrified. "How is that even possible?" she gasped.

I shook my head not sure if it would be wise to tell her what happened. I have a very disturbing past and I'd rather not relive it. "Someone gave them power; a dark power and they accepted it. That power turned them against me and that's all I'm saying. No more stupid questions."

"I've heard stories about that…" Leo said from the front. She looked back at us, when I saw her face again I could tell something was definitely off. For a second I thought I saw a clouded look over her eyes but it was gone before I could be sure. "I'm not sure if they're true but I heard that Nat and Aiden were like super humans. The other soldiers around here talk about that a lot."

I casted another look around the halls. "About that," I began, "where are they all at?"

Leo shook her head and continued down the hall. "I've heard there will be an ambush on Voltron when they arrived." Was all she told me. That made me feel a little suspicious, she wouldn't look me in the eye when she said it.

….

**Nat POV**

"One of them isn't there Aid." I called over my shoulder while studying to security footage. Voltron had come to rescue Daniel just as we predicted however they were one short. There was another who wasn't with them. How were we going to do this now?

Aiden was sitting in the dark I could see his eyes were closed. I called his name again and they fluttered open. "I heard you the first time…"

I grimaced. "Speaking of time…" I muttered while watching him. "We're running out on it, Dolus will be here soon to collect Daniel."

"What do you plan to do about the other one Nat?" he asked. I smirked and walked away from the screens. Aiden's eyes followed me across the room. I knew what I had to do, it would be a very simple task. If he were alone it would be even easier. "Nat?" I heard Aiden called as I headed to exit the room. He was curious of where I was going and I hadn't answered him.

I looked back him with a smug smile. "What do you think Aiden I'm going to bring him here. Things must go as planned after all right?"

"Right you are." He replied in an amused tone.

"You think you can keep them busy for awhile?" I gestured back to the security monitors. Aiden glanced for a moment and nodded.

"Miss Raynes will keep leading them in around. She thinks she's leading them out to safety but she's only leading them deeper inside." He replied coolly and crossed his arms. I watched him lean his head back and close his eyes again. "It'll only be a matter of time before they realize what's going on. They aren't stupid they'll figure out they've been deceived. By that time it'll be too late."

So far things seemed to be going our way. As long as Voltron didn't manage to escape with Daniel it would go as planned. I thought about what Aiden was doing. "I thought your link with Danny disappeared. You weren't able to use it anymore." I told him leaning against the door frame. Aiden opened his eyes again and stared at me darkly for a long time.

He used to have some sort of one sided link with him. He was only able to sense his emotions are how far away he was. A lot of times he'd try to see if he could manipulate those emotions. However he didn't have much luck. I didn't even know why he bothered trying. Though the thing that bothered us both was the fact that the link just disappeared. It was as if it were never there before. "The link is still gone something's blocking him off from me. Every time I try to use it something gets in my way and stops me." he finally replied before closing his eyes again. It surprised me that he was so persistent with this. "It might still be there though, it's faint…very faint."

I smirked. "What's the point of this stupid link? You can't use it for anything Aiden."

Aiden shook his head. "That was then…this is now."

"Remember me telling you about how fragile minded he was?" I told him, "We don't need him muttering gibberish in the corner Aid."

He snorted. "I thought you were supposed to be going?"

I chuckled and left him alone. Aiden would handle things fine while I'm gone. Daniel wouldn't be going anywhere either.

….

**Aiden POV**

I couldn't help but wonder if I still had that link with Daniel. It certainly would have put me one step ahead of him if knew what he was thinking. Much to my frustration it was like it was before; nothing. I couldn't feel anything.

I let out a short laugh, I felt giddy all of a sudden. "I wonder if Voltron's the reason I can't feel the link anymore." No that couldn't be it. I still felt the link even when he joined Voltron something made it wear away.

Just for a second I thought I had it but it slipped away. Feeling frustrated I let out a loud sigh and stalked across the room to study the security feed. I wanted to check on how things were going. The time wasn't right yet…just a little longer.

Was it obsession? Me chasing after Daniel like this now, was I obsessed? No…I wasn't obsessed with anything! It wasn't an obsession. I was only told to bring Daniel here it was a simple order. _I can't wait until that stupid brat is gone. He'll be out of my hair._

Leo was still leading them in circles none of them where aware of anything yet. Good the more oblivious the better. The only thing I worried about was the girl. Hopefully they wouldn't notice anything wrong with her. If they did then they were already wary, I could tell they were tense do to the lack of soldiers patrolling the halls. I didn't want any harm coming to them yet, that would come later.

If only I still had that link with Daniel, I'd know if they felt any suspicions. Maybe just maybe it was still there, maybe it hadn't disappeared. Something had just been covering it, blocking it from me. I shut my eyes for a moment and focused; stinging cold swirled around me. At first there was nothing; then I felt something but I couldn't grasp it. It was like something was being teased just out of my reach. I tried to get closer but I was only blocked out again. Anger rose in me, this was beginning to work at my nerves. What kept blocking me from the link?

I tried again this time I managed to get closer. I could sense the link there very weakly but I could still sense it. Yes I managed to reach it, now I needed to focus on it more. Just when I thought I had it, just when I thought I found the link again I was blocked out. It felt as if something had hit me in the face. The sensation was so sudden that I stumbled back and fell to the floor. I blinked several times when I recovered from my daze. Once again something had blocked me from the link. "Looks like you're safe for now Danny." I muttered under my breath as I got to my feet. Whatever it was it was covering up the link I use to have with him. It irked me that I couldn't use that against him anymore.

"Of course…" I muttered in agitation, I wandered back over to the security feed. It made me nervous to keep me eyes off them. Even if Leo was under the full influence of the darkness I was worried that something would go wrong. They weren't stupid sooner or later they'd realize something was off about their guide. However, how long it would take before they realized it was a trap all long was the real question. I watched the screen for a long time and smirked.

_They're all idiots for coming here. They all knew it would be a trap but they came to rescue me anyway. Nat and Aiden will kill them, the only thing they came here for is to die!_

There it was again, I could sense the link. Its sudden reappearance caught me off guard, I let out a short laugh. "You don't seem to have all of the facts Danny boy." _And it's going to stay that way. You and your friends can't leave yet._

On the screen I thought I saw him tense up. It made me really wonder now how far I could go with the link without hurting him.

….

**Daniel POV**

I shuddered, it had felt like something had pricked the back of my neck. There was a short cold breeze and I shuddered again. What was that all about?

Keith must've felt me tense up. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head keeping my eyes on the floor. "It's nothing," I told him a little too quickly. Just from that I knew that he became suspicious. Anything I said made him suspicious of me, even if it were true. My fear was coming true; because I kept lying to them, keeping things from them, I don't think he necessarily trusted me as much. I felt more nervous about this now. Keith gave me a harsh look. "I said it was nothing Keith now leave it at that. No more questions okay?"

He glared at me, I felt the urge to pull away from him. I would have if I could walk on my own. "Why no questions Daniel is there something you're hiding from us? Something that you don't want any of us to know?" I winced at the harshness of his tone.

"Maybe there are some things you shouldn't know…." I growled.

"What are to you trying to say Daniel?" Keith demanded, we stopped, "Are you hiding something from us?"

I glared at him and pulled away to lean against the wall. Pain made my body scream at me in protest. "I said no more stupid questions…"

He shook his head. "Daniel I only want to know what you're hiding from us. Please just tell me; what's going on?"

"Guys this isn't the time!" Allura said stepping forward hoping to intervene.

"All I want to know is what he's hiding." Keith told her calmly. I felt like screaming my frustration right now.

"You don't need to know." I told him through clenched teeth, it was hard getting a hold of my temper. I didn't want to talk about this why couldn't he understand that? This was something I couldn't tell them because it was too painful for me!

Keith just shook his head at me. "What's wrong with you?"

"Shut up!" I snapped.

"Daniel…"

"I said shut up Keith!"

Everyone was watching us in silence. They couldn't do anything about it, I wished one of them would though. I just wanted someone to shut Keith up. "Is it really bothering that much?"

"SHUT UP!" I shouted.

"Hey guys I hate to interrupt your petty fight," Leo said drawing attention to herself. She looked impatient with our arguing, "but we need to get going. Also I think you may have drawn attention to ourselves on the security cams." She pointed at a small camera up on the ceiling.

Keith gave me a look that said "we'll talk about this later" before nodding at Leo. "Alright let's go." He said.

….

"_Daniel she's leading us nowhere."_

I glanced over at Vince when I heard him say this. _"What makes you say that?"_

_ "We've been walking for too long."_

_ "I've noticed…"_

I winced and had to stop to lean against the wall. I was angry at Keith at the time so I refused his help and walked on my own. Right now I was feeling remorseful about it. My entire body was screaming with pain. I ignored the throbbing and watched Leo for a long time. There was nothing different in her body language I could notice.

I looked back at Vince he looked nervous. If Leo was leading us into a trap then the others need to know if they didn't already. "Daniel you're not going to pass out are you?" Larmina asked me, she was looking back with concern. I shook my head; Keith was watching me closely, I didn't want to admit I needed help. He was still a little mad at me from our earlier argument.

"I was stabbed in the back not hit in the head." When I said this I saw Keith noticeably jump. Somewhere in the back of my head I felt guilty and I knew I shouldn't have brought that up. After all he was still kicking himself for what he did to me. Now I was beginning to understand why Keith wanted to defend me so badly. He felt bad for what he did and he was only trying to prevent something like that from happening again. "I'll be fine, the pain isn't that bad."

_I'm sorry. _Is what I wanted to say to Keith so badly. However the words just wouldn't come.

"Leo…" I said instead, the fact that we were getting nowhere bother me more.

She looked over her shoulder. "What is it?"

I didn't want to come right out and say it. "What's going on? I mean why aren't there any other soldiers around, you say it's an ambush but I don't really feel any tension. This place just seems a little empty to me." she narrowed her eyes.

I didn't like that reaction. "I've managed to get you out of here once. What's wrong you don't believe I can again?" she asked snidely.

"Daniel don't get yourself in another fight…" Larmina warned. She was worried about my current condition however I wasn't. I didn't care if I made my injury worse by becoming more stressed.

Leo eyed her and stalked up to me. I clenched my teeth. "I'm trying to help you…so you can stop with your trust issues."

I pushed her away. "I do not have trust issues." I growled.

"Then why can't you just relax?" her voice had taken on a threatening tone. She's definitely changed, this wasn't right.

I felt Larmina grab my arm to pull me away. She wasn't able to succeed though. "I trust no one." I said so quietly that only she could hear it. Leo smiled and once again I saw that strange cloud look in her eyes. Something wasn't right at all. I looked over at Vince, he noticed my nervous stare.

She smirked darkly. "Nat and Aiden were right…" she whispered back.

"What did they do to you, did they put you in some type of trance?" I asked so quietly that I could barely hear my own voice. Leo shook her head looking even more dazed now. Her eyes were glassy and her face was blank.

She whispered. "I don't know what you're talking about." After that she stepped away. However the tension could still be felt. "Does he always have such a temper?" she asked aloud acting as if our exchange never happened. I have her a dark look and walked over to where Vince was standing watching Leo closely.

"Actually no," Keith said giving me a harsh look, " he's never acted like this before."

Leo shook her head at me and the fogged look in her eyes disappeared. I didn't know how the others didn't notice that. She began leading the way again; Keith gave me another scolding look and walked away. I hung back with Larmina and Vince when we started moving again.

"Aiden and Nat did something to her, that's why she's acting so strange." I hissed to them when I was sure Leo wasn't listening to us.

Vince nodded. "I thought there was something off about her."

"How do you know Nat and Aiden did this to her. For all we know she could've been like this from the beginning." Larmina offered, it sounded possible but I didn't believe it. After seeing that weird look in her eyes I knew it had something to do with Nat and Aiden. "She could have been playing with our trust the whole time."

I tried not to stiffen at that. "I saw something in her eyes. It was only for a moment but I saw this weird glassy look in her eyes." I told them both. They gave me strange looks when I said this. "They're controlling her somehow."

"Well if she's under their control then we need to be careful." Vince replied and we all nodded.

….

**Aiden POV**

I opened my eyes, Daniel now knew about Leo. He or one of those other cadets would have found out sooner or later so that didn't bother me too much. I knew neither of them wouldn't dare warn the others about this knowledge because of fear of consequence. It was time to cage the lions now.

I walked back over to the computer screens to monitor everything. Then I spoke into my communicator. "Captain be prepared to send your soldiers to the north wing on the fourth floor."

"Sir yes sir." Was the satisfying reply I heard.

Now I needed to carry on the rest of the plan. My eyes began to glow and cold surrounded me. "Miss Raynes?"I heard a scream of rage in my mind. It was pathetic that she kept fighting even after she didn't have any control. The girl screamed insults at me, I waited until she quieted down to speak. She ran out of energy quickly. "It's time to lead our friends into the trap…"

_"No!" _she screamed but there was nothing she could do.

"It's too late." I whispered as the dark energy began to swarm around my body. "Daniel…after this you can't be saved."

….

**Daniel POV**

Pain.

That's all I could feel right now. It wasn't my injury, this was something much worse. It felt like my entire body was on fire and my head was throbbing horribly. I screamed in agony and collapse onto my knees clutching my head.

"Daniel?" Larmina kneeled beside me and grabbed my shoulders. I pulled away when she touched me the pain became even horrible.

"Daniel what's happening?" Keith came over to my side, I cringed away. The pain was becoming even harder to bear. It brought tears to my eyes. Keith grabbed me. "What's wrong?"

I screamed in agony and pushed him away. "Make. It. Stop!" I shouted.

Keith looked helpless. "I don't what's wrong Daniel…you need to tell me!" he reached out but I whimper and flinched away.

"It's over for you, that's all you need to know." Through my agony I could see Leo standing away from the others. A full platoon of soldiers stood behind her. She waved snidely. "Take them away…"

"You betrayed us!" Pidge exclaimed.

Leo smiled her foggy eyes looked over at me in contempt. It was the same look Nat and Aiden would give me. "I was never on your side…" she whispered.

"No!" I screamed convulsing on the floor. Pain was slamming into me in large waves every time. My head felt like it was going to explode.

Keith turned and glared at Leo. "What did you do to him?" he snarled.

Leo snorted. "He has issues maybe he did that to himself." The soldiers brushed past her and pointed their staffs. "Nat and Aiden have special plans for you Daniel."

A door opened up under me and sent me falling down a narrow shaft. I heard Keith call after me. I wasn't able to stay awake long enough to see where this led. The pain was too unbearable and I blacked out.

/

**Note: **_Ta da! The double update is here. I hope you all forgive me for that joke I pulled now. *innocent stare*_

**Next Chapter: "Promises Can't Always Be Kept"**


	12. Chapter 12

**XII**

**Promises Can't Always Be Kept**

**Keith POV **

I couldn't let him go like this. Before the door closed I went after Daniel, behind me I heard Leo scream in rage. The shaft led down a steep drop. I was wondering how long this thing was when it finally opened up and I saw below me was water.

Before I hit the surface I braced myself. The impact was painful; my entire body was screaming in pain. When I opened my eyes I saw Daniel drifting a couple feet away, he was still unconscious. Quickly I swam over to him and grabbed him before swimming up to the surface. Daniel coughed and gasped when we reached the surface. "You okay?" I asked. He coughed a couple more times before nodding meekly. I looked around and saw a ledge that we could pull ourselves up onto. "Can you swim by yourself?"

"I'll be fine…" he muttered and I let him go.

I began treading toward the ledge and Daniel followed. When we both pulled ourselves onto it I saw that this place was some type of chamber. There were no doors I could see because it was too dark to tell. "You would have been safer back up there." Daniel told me after he managed to catch his breath.

"Well if I didn't come here you probably would've drowned." I replied.

He chuckled and shook the water out of his hair. A couple of stray drops hit me. "I need to stop blacking out."

I smiled and nodded. "You'd probably win gold with how many times that's happened to you…"

"Shut up…" he replied good naturedly.

For the first time in awhile his personality was brighter. He actually didn't seem so gloomy like he did at first. However it didn't last very long, the brightness in his eyes disappeared and once again he seemed hollow. It almost seemed like he was trying to keep himself from being happy. I looked away from him and focused my attention on the ceiling. It was too dark to see anything up there. "We must be pretty far underground…"

Daniel looked up too. "We fell far."

"No kidding."

I looked back at Daniel. Maybe I could get him to talk to me, he seemed calm enough. However I didn't want to push my luck with him, Daniel's been acting unpredictable lately.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked watching me accusingly. It sounded like I had been proven guilty of some sort of crime when he said it.

I looked at him, puzzled. Why would he ask something like that? "I'm responsible for the others on the team. Daniel I couldn't leave you here."

He looked at me almost in hatred. "You shouldn't though…you can't trust me Keith. I hid things from you, I lied."

"So now you want to talk?" I said smugly.

He narrowed his eyes, I thought he was about to lose his temper again. "If you knew the truth you'd understand why I wanted to keep it from you. I don't have a nice childhood, and I don't want to relive those horrible moments."

Now he sounded dangerous. I felt a little intimidated by the way he was beginning to act. "So you are going to tell me?" I asked quietly.

He chuckled. "Do you really want to know?"

From the way he sounded it made me unsure if I wanted to hear about this or not. Daniel did say he had a bad childhood that he didn't want to relive. How bad; is what I wanted to know. "I need to know what you're keeping from the rest of us." I went and sat next to him. Daniel tensed up but too my surprise he didn't cringe away.

"Let's see where to began," he said leaning his head back while he thought. His voice was trembling a little, he had been trying to cover it. I felt bad for forcing him into doing this. "I should probably begin with this Nat and Aiden business."

His tone had taken on a note of sorrow. "How close were you three?" I asked.

Daniel smiled as if recalling the good memories. Then he shook his head and his expression darkened. "They knew me when I was really young. I guess they were always like my older brothers, they were always around for me." he began quietly. "Aiden taught me how to fight…how to survive."

"What happened?" I asked when he had gone quiet. "Who changed them?

He hesitated before saying. "A man…more like a demon named Dolus."

…

**Vince POV**

"Let me go! Let me go!" Larmina snapped as she struggled against the soldiers escorting her.

I glared at Leo, she betrayed us! Then I suddenly remembered Daniel telling us that she was in some type of trance. She couldn't know what she was doing. That wasn't very reassuring though. The way she acted made me believe that she was doing this of her own free will. If I hadn't seen that glassy look in her eyes I would've still thought she betrayed us.

We had been separated from the others. There was no telling what would happen to them and there was no telling what was happening to us. I was worried about what would happen to Daniel and Keith. They disappeared just like that. Were they both dead? I hoped not.

Leo looked back at us with clouded eyes and raised her hand, signaling for the soldiers to stop. She studied the two of us intently before saying. "Count yourselves lucky that you're being allowed to live until your usefulness is up. Nat and Aiden think you two are of value."

"Leo snap out of it, they've got you in some kind of trance!" I told her. However her glassy gaze never changed. She merely chuckled like she was insane and waved the soldiers by her. They tightened their grips on us and pushed us along.

"Leo!" Larmina shouted indignantly.

Leo laughed again. "Take them to G Block to wait."

….

The soldiers led us into a large room. The room only had two large windows that was letting in light. It reassured me some that they didn't throw us in an airless chamber again. However it was still a prison nonetheless. If there were soldiers guarding us it wouldn't matter if it were a fancy suite I wouldn't be comfortable.

"You two are to wait here until it's time to deal with you." One of the soldiers said as our bonds on our wrists were undone. "Escape is futile; this room will be watch 24/7."

After that the soldiers left us.

"I'm actually beginning to believe this whole thing_ is _futile." I muttered under my breath.

"Yeah," Larmina agreed, "I'm starting to lose hope too."

I walked over to one of the windows and peered outside. It was dark; I couldn't see anything moving around outside either. They separated us from the others; there was no telling what's happening to them now. For all we know they could be dead already. "What do they plan on doing with us anyway? We can't be that important to this cause."

"As long as it's keeping us alive for the time being, I'm fine with it." Larmina replied blandly.

"Good point." I replied.

I began thinking about what those people wanted with Daniel. Why was he so important. They wanted Daniel for something and I didn't like it. Whatever it was I doubt it would be very beneficial to him. Every time I thought about I felt a bad vibe.

"Larmina," I began, "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about Daniel…"

She looked at me.

"Something isn't right about him…" I never thought that I'd ever actually be suspicious of someone like Daniel. He's never bothered me before.

Larmina gave me a pointed look but I could tell she agreed. Every time a conversation about Daniel started up there was always a feeling of unease. It's never happened before now; for some reason it just felt like something bad would happen every time we mentioned him. It made me wonder about how much Daniel has been keeping from us. For a minute I thought Daniel was like Nat and Aiden, I shook my head. They were ruthless and inhuman; Daniel isn't and won't be anything like that. Right?

Somehow thinking like that only made it worse. Would Daniel end up betraying us? I couldn't stop myself from asking the question. It was just a bad vibe…one that we'd end up laughing about in the future. "I don't want to say it…" Larmina began quietly, "but I'm starting to believe Daniel might turn on us. After all he's been hiding so much from us; I wouldn't put it past him." I could tell she hated saying that last part.

"They plan on killing him though…"

She crossed her arms. "If it's not that then what do they need him for?"

I shrugged. "Beats me and it's not like we're going to get any closer to finding out by guessing. Even if we did find out it's not like we can do anything about stuck in here!" I glared up at a security camera that had panned toward us. "We're always being watched!"

Larmina gave a loud sigh. "We can't plan our escape either. The minute it looks like we were going to try anything suspicious they'd come in and stop us."

Part of me wanted to blame Daniel for this mess. I couldn't do that though, it wasn't his fault. He wanted all of us to stay out of it after all.

….

**Aiden POV**

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Was it really that hard to keep the boy's 'guard dogs' away from him? The trap was supposed to separate them from the boy! If they knew what had to happen to him they wouldn't come anywhere near him. Why did people have to be so persistent when it came to saving someone. "Oh well," I growled walking over to grab my spear. It was time to get rid of a little pest once and for all, "I guess even the most loyal of 'dogs' have to be punished."

The others were being held prisoner until Dolus arrived. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I killed someone, especially if I told them how much trouble they were. Daniel wouldn't need any friends after all, they'd only distract him from the task at hand. He wouldn't need anyone soon.

_They just never learn do they?_

Though after Daniel got finished telling his little story I doubt Keith would want to be anywhere near him. His past is darker than they thought. It almost made me want to laugh, they kept trying to help him, trying to save him. The whole thing was all in vain. His fate was something he couldn't avoid for long. It was either give in to it now and accept it or run away and make it worse. The more he ran, the worse it became, it would catch up with him sooner or later. When it did, it would do more harm than good. His mind was still too fragile to handle such shock.

It was already turning difficult for him with the members of Voltron intervening. I twirled my spear and tested the sharpness of the point against the wall. It made a satisfying screeching sound. Daniel would have to learn he can't keep running away. There will be no one he can hide behind as long as he lives. As long as he still exists, anyone he tries to hide behind will pay. He will see them suffer and die.

_"Sir he's sided with Voltron. If they knew they someone was coming after him they'd try to protect him."_

_ "He's not safe with them. It should be an easy mission for you."_

_ "What if they try to stop us?"_

_` "They couldn't stop you, they're weak. Daniel only thinks he's safe with Voltron. However when the time comes he will see that no matter where he runs to there will be nothing that is strong enough to protect him from fate."_

_ "They will try to protect him nonetheless Dolus."_

_ "Then show them that what they are doing is in vain. There is nothing they can do for the boy."_

_ "And if he runs away again?"_

_ "Has that stopped us yet? No I don't think so. He can run away all he wants to, this will still happen. It won't matter when we catch him anyway."_

_ "Is there something I'm missing…you say that as if it won't matter if we catch anytime soon. There must be more to this that you didn't tell us!"_

_ "It won't matter if he's in a cage we throw him in or on a different planet. His fate will take over and he will do what he must. Though I'd prefer if you two captured him so I can see him. I want to make sure things are going well. Can I count on you two to return him to me?_

_"…"_

_ "Aiden."_

_ "…"_

_ "Answer me!"_

_ "Yes sir…"_

_ "Why do you sound so reluctant? Does it hurt you when I talk about the boy."_

_ "No…"_

_ "Then why?"_

_ "I just know it won't be easy. Voltron will not let this happen they'll try to stop it."_

_ "It'll be in vain."_

_ "But nothing is definite. Isn't that correct Dolus, nothing is for sure."_

_ "…Go and bring Daniel back to me. I'll return and when I do I expect him to be in your custody. Do not let anything or anyone stand in your way."_

I smirked darkly to myself. "Yes sir…I'll make sure no one will stand in my way." I whispered.

I headed to the freight elevator and it took me down the bottom level. My grip on the spear tightened as I prepared to use it. These people were getting on my nerves already, it would lighten my mood if I got to personally kill one of them. Daniel would soon learn that when he hid behind people; those people would get hurt. He'd learn that those people would end up being killed for being involved with him. His running away ended here.

….

**Daniel POV**

"Dolus?"

"I don't know what he is," I said, "he can't be human. That or he is a human…just a really twisted one."

"Well anyone that's that twisted I wouldn't consider them human."

"I don't know Keith…I'm pretty twisted." I replied tapping the side of my head. "I think I'm slowly beginning to lose it. At any given moment I might just snap."

He gave me a weak smile. "Actually I might be the one about to lose it, " I gave him a curious look, "I'm use the old Daniel, even if he got on my nerves, I kind of miss him." He looked at me and I shook my head. Did he really believe that's how I always was? That brash minded kid who always got into trouble with everyone. Did he really think that the real me was impulsive and mild mannered? Well he's….right? I had to think for a moment. Was that my real personality, the 'real Daniel Chandler' or was it some façade I used? Wow that was sad…I didn't even know myself. So who was I then? I looked down at my hands; Keith certainly had thrown me off. "So you tell me…what happened to the Daniel I use to know? Because I don't recognize the kid that's right here in front of me." he said when he saw me look away from him.

It wasn't fair! He was doing this to me on purpose. "Maybe that kid never existed…" I growled out a response.

"Well I believe he did exist and I wonder when I'll see him again." Keith countered.

I felt like screaming at him but then again I already said I would talk. There was no backing out of it now. "Shut up about it, things change, people grow up."

"Is that what you have to say Daniel?" he asked in a terse tone. I let out a short laugh and nodded. "That doesn't mean anything Daniel!"

This conversation felt strangely familiar.

"Shut up…" I muttered under my breath. Hugging my knees up to my chest I rested my head on them. Maybe it would've been best just to keep my mouth shut and ignore him.

"'Shut up', is that all you know how to say? Talk to me Daniel, you said you'd tell me what I wanted to know."

"Shut up…"

He chuckled. "Come on I know you can say more than that."

"Go to hell." I replied blandly.

I let out a yelp when he kicked me in the thigh. Keith snorted and gave me another kick. "That's not what I meant."

I smirked. "You asked though."

"Guess what I'm already there. This place is a living nightmare, your little friends are inhuman. They want to kill us and we don't even know what they want!" he snapped in reply. I cringed at the tone his voice had suddenly taken on. Guilt rose in me for testing him like that. "What's wrong with you?" he whispered.

My smiled fell and I felt my entire body tense up. What was wrong with me? I could feel myself trembling and my heart was beating fast. What's happening to me? "There's a lot wrong with me." I finally said.

Keith grimaced and reached out to put a comforting hand on my shoulder. Seeing this movement I thought for a moment before glaring at him. He sighed and pulled back seeing I wouldn't let him get through to me that easily. "Mind telling me why? I'm sure your mind will feel less cluttered if you tell someone. Come on Daniel please, just tell me something kid." He told me in a calm reasonable voice. Why did he have to know, why did he even care? Idiot.

He may have been an idiot but something made me feel like telling him everything. I didn't know how to explain it but there was this strange emotion I was feeling. It was hard to tell what it was I felt, I never felt something like this before. "It happened four years ago, it was on the same day I nearly drowned. Someone came to us, he told us his name was Dolus. He said something about offering us some power. I don't think Nat and Aiden knew that this power was dark." I began telling Keith. Every word I spoke made me tremble even harder. A lump rose in my throat the more I talked. It hurt to remember that day, to relive that very moment. "They told me it would be safe, I was scared. I was especially scared when I noticed that Dolus guy kept looking at me. The way he looked at me, it made me feel like I was a piece of meat or something.

"He already had Nat and Aiden onboard. I was the only one who was still a little apprehensive. He told me that I'd regret turning his offer down, he told me that I would need it later," I continued when Keith didn't say anything. He was merely watching and listening, "I didn't know what he meant by that but I didn't like it. He told me that he came here to help me so I could be stronger. He also said something about helping me reach my full potential." I hesitated, I remembered Aiden saying something about my potential as well. Why did everyone want to 'help me reach my full potential'? What was it that I had to do? I shook my head and tried not to look over at Keith. "The way he said it, he sounded so dark. I actually felt cold when he said it. He told me that it was either accept my fate or die…"

"What does that mean?" Keith asked when I had become suddenly silent.

I let out a short laugh. "What do you think Keith?" I spat. "It was either accept his offer or he'd kill me. Apparently I didn't matter back then but now they need me. Dolus told me I was strong, better than 'regular humans'. He said that with the power he could give me, I could have whatever I want, do whatever I wanted. No one could stand in my way, anyone who tried to hurt me I could destroy just like that." I snapped my fingers. "For a minute I felt tempted…I thought about it. To have that amount of power." I gave a short insane laugh; my body trembled even more. It felt like something had suddenly snapped on the inside.

Keith gave me a concerned look. "Daniel?"

I grinned. "I feel like a fool now for passing up that opportunity" I shook my head.

"Daniel what are you saying?" Keith shouted.

I laughed again sounding even more insane. Keith was probably looking at me in horror. "I'm saying that I should have accepted Dolus' offer. It certainly would have been much better than this weak pathetic team you've thrown together." My head dropped forward and I stared at the ground still chuckling. A pain in my jaw snapped me out of my giddiness. I yelped and was knocked over onto my side. After recovering a short while later I sat up and rubbed my jaw. I glared over at Keith who was staring back at me incredulously. "What was that for?" I muttered; I could already feel a bruise forming. Why did that jerk just hit me?

Keith rubbed his knuckles. "You kind of started to lose it, you were starting to worry me. I had to snap you out of it."

The back of my head began to throb lightly. Great now I was starting to lose my sanity. I looked away from Keith and turned my back on him. Just now I probably sounded like Nat or Aiden. My vision blurred over. No I couldn't let Keith see me like this! I didn't want him to feel sympathy for me, I didn't want him to try to help. Now I was sick and tired of everyone trying to help me! I wanted them to leave me alone and let me be miserable. They needed to face it; this new pathetic, miserable, dark, Daniel was the one they had to put up with. The old stupid Daniel was gone now and he'd never come back!

"Daniel what's wrong?" Keith asked me.

"Nothing…I don't need your pathetic sympathy!" I snarled as I angrily wiped at my face.

"Daniel please…" he said.

I pushed him away. "I said it was nothing!" Despite my efforts the tears still kept falling. I didn't want Keith to see me like this.

"If it's nothing Daniel," I heard him say, he grabbed my shoulder. He wouldn't let me push his hand away, "then why are you crying?"

"I'm not crying!" I shouted turning around and jabbing him in the chest with my elbow. He let out a cough when I hit him. I felt him grab my shoulders and force me to look at him.

When he saw me his face fell. "Daniel…"

I pulled away from him angrily and wiped my face with the back of my arm. Keith was watching me in distress. "There's nothing you can help me with Keith. Why can't you all realize that? This is something I have to face alone, I don't want you involved." I snapped.

He sighed. "Daniel you can't…I don't care about how dangerous Nat and Aiden are. If one of my teammates is in danger then it's my responsibility to make sure they're okay."

I looked away from him. "But why?"

"I can't just stand by and see you get hurt like this. Daniel please you need our help, this isn't just your fight anymore." When he said that I felt dread rise up in me. I finally looked him in the eye. "We're all involved in this somehow, it isn't just you anymore. Which is why you need our help."

I smirked. "What can you do against two guys who are practically super humans?"

"If we stand together then that won't even matter." He replied.

There was that weird feeling again. I didn't know what it was but it made me feel a little off balance. It felt familiar but at the same time it was new, it felt kind of like happiness but it wasn't. I pushed the feeling away a little but not too much, I still wanted to know what this feeling was.

"There's no stopping you is there?"

"Yeah...you didn't know I could be just as stubborn as you did you?"

I shook my head. "I just can't keep you away can I? Fine I'll stop trying to push you away."

"That's a little reassuring." He replied.

"Just try not to die…Nat and Aiden will kill anyone who gets in their way. I don't want anyone getting hurt." I told him grimly. "You can fight all you want but you won't be able to stop them. They'll get what they want."

Keith's expression hardened. "Daniel…I'll make sure they won't get to you. They won't get what they want." He said getting to his feet. I looked up at him before standing as well. What was the point of telling me this, he couldn't do anything. I felt that weird sensation again. What was it? "Look at me," I shook my head refusing to look at him this time. He sighed, "Listen I don't care if it ends up killing me. I promise I'll get you out of this mess alive. Nat and Aiden won't get to you, I promise you Daniel."

The feeling was strong now. Then I realized what it was, I smiled to myself. Maybe…maybe somewhere deep down…I trusted him.

I trusted them.

/

**Note: **_Wolfbanekapu has lost it: ROAR! STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU PEOPLE ARE DRIVING ME INSANE! *loads and aims harpoon at reviewers* MUST DESTROY YOU!_

_*Shirtless Lance walks by*_

_O.o Oh la la…um *cough* I'll see you guys in the next chapter. Um…uh bye *follows Lance*_

_Lol XD_

**Next Chapter: "Living in the Past: Part 1"**


	13. Chapter 13

**XIII**

**Living in the Past: Part 1**

**Aiden POV**

_This whole sentimental scene is making me sick._

I stepped forward out of the shadows. "Aw how adorable Danny. It looks like the ice around your heart has finally melted." He glared and to my surprise stood his ground for once. It was very surprising since he's always run away. "That's cute…really cute, you promised to keep him alive. That's not going to do him any good though." I snarled hurling my spear right at Keith. It stabbed into his shoulder and buried into the pillar behind him. Daniel gave him a look of distress the turned his gaze back on me. His eyes were narrowed with hatred.

"Aiden!" he snarled.

"So looks like you aren't scared of me anymore Danny." I said with a wicked grin.

"I was never afraid of you Aiden!" he rushed forward at me. What a fatal error he made on his part. I merely lifted my palm and hit him in the chest with a wave of invisible energy. He went flying backwards and fell into the water.

The one called Keith let out an enraged cry and tried to escape. The only thing he was accomplishing was making his injury worse and ticking me off. I stalked over and drove the spear deeper; he let out a satisfying cry of agony. "Why are you even bothering to try to 'save' him? It's useless you can't do anything for him."

He looked at me in pure hatred. I applied more force on the spear and he grunted. "I won't let you take Daniel!" he shouted, "You won't win this!"

I rolled my eyes and drove the spear even deeper. The sound of the bone cracking amused me. His teeth were clenched forcing himself not to scream in agony. I tilted my head. "Your words will be meaningless in a couple of minutes." I said quietly.

"Leave him alone Aiden!"

I snorted and looked over at Daniel who had swum up to the ledge. He was shivering and looked paler than usual. His injury must be taking its toll on him after that hit I gave him. "I'll deal with you later…" I hit him with another wave of invisible energy. Keith tried to struggled again, this guy was really beginning to get on my nerves. I struck him across the face. "As for you," I hit him again, "I think I'll kill you now."

...

**Lance POV**

I clenched my teeth, my leg was killing me. Even if I were resting it still hurt me a lot.

What was even worse was how useless I felt sitting here. For all I know right now everyone could be dead. My mind darkened when I thought about that. What was going on with Daniel? He's been acting out of it for a long time now. I didn't want to but I was beginning to feel suspicious about the kid. It wasn't just the fact he was keeping things from us; it was something else.

There was always a sense of foreboding or a bad vibe when I thought about him. I never thought there'd be a day where I began to actually distrust him.

Deciding that I needed to clear my head I got on my crutches and went outside. Maybe I was just feeling a little bitter for Daniel breaking my leg. "What's happening?" I muttered under my breath. So much had happened recently and so far it's only made me even more suspicious of Daniel. Before I've always seen him as a little brother who enjoyed ticking me off. Now; he seemed hardly recognizable. He acted so differently…his persona even darker more after that incident with Aiden.

Potential.

Aiden had been talking about that. He started saying a whole bunch of crazy things about Daniel's potential. Stuff like Voltron was only holding him back. I was hoping Daniel had blocked him out but after seeing that expression on his face I knew what Aiden had been saying got to him. It seemed to be ever since then things had begun building up and turning worse. I remembered seeing that wild look in his eyes when I tried stopping him from confronting Aiden a couple days ago.

My entire body tensed up. It had suddenly turned unbearably cold. I looked around warily, it felt like someone else was here. It was probably only my imagination though, that's all it had to be. However the cold did make it uncomfortable. I frowned realizing something…it was _cold. _The sun was out, there were no clouds or wind not even a slight gust! That made me nervous; but it was too late to turn around. I didn't know what but something hit me from behind and threw me to the side.

Jarring pain shot up my leg when I hit the ground. I balled my hands in to fists and let out a gasp. Someone chuckled, however before I could see who it was I was grabbed and thrown again. Once again I felt pain wave through my body. I groaned and curled myself up into a ball; looking through blurred vision I managed to catch only a glimpse of my attacker. Though I wasn't able to identify who it was, they came over and kicked me in the gut. Then they grabbed me and threw me against the wall; my head slammed against it hardest. At that moment I thought I would have blacked out from such impact. "Wh-who…who are you? Wh-what do…you want?" I muttered weakly, my head felt like it was spinning.

The figured strolled over casually and hit me several times in the gut. I groaned and slumped forward, I couldn't believe I was letting this stranger win so easily! It was probably useless but I tried to strike out at the assailant. My arm was caught and they twisted it, I screamed in agony; this was pure torture! The grip on my arm tightened and I was pulled away from the wall and thrown into the ground again. The stranger laughed at my suffering. "I'm only here to bring you back to your teammates. You're needed badly." They told me in a snide voice, then I felt a powerful kick in my side. I couldn't tell who it was but I knew it was either Nat or Aiden. Anger rising in my made me try to get up, I felt a heavy boot step down on my back forcing me into the ground. He applied even more pressure; I thought my spine was about to crack. Then I was pushed into a sitting position. My whole body was throbbing all over and I was sure he had broken a couple more of my bones.

I lifted my head weakly. "You think they'll let you get what you want? You won't" I growled as my vision began to clear. When I could see clearly I could see that my attacker was Nat. He smirked and rubbed his bruised looking knuckles.

"All of you are the same, you think you can stop us. You keep saying that we'll never get what we want. Guess what…we have Daniel and your friends are captured; we have just what we want." He said and kneeled down on one knee beside me. "If you know the truth about him then you wouldn't want to protect him."

"But what do you want with him!" I demanded.

Nat snorted. "It doesn't matter if I tell you or not. There will be no way for you to stop it."

"We can try…" I growled.

He chuckled and shook his head slowly. "Let me tell you the truth then." He leaned forward and whispered. My eyes widened when he told me, he smirked when he saw my horrified expression. I wanted him to shut up…but I was speechless. Nat's eyes flickered with a dark mischievous light as he pulled away.

"No…" I whispered incredulously.

"Yes." Nat replied with a laugh.

What he said about Daniel couldn't be true. He was lying to me it was just to mess with my head. Nat laughed at my stunned expression.

"You're lying…what you said can't be true! That can't be true about Daniel!" I shouted in horror. Though at the back of my head I knew he was telling me the truth which is what made me feel worse. If what Nat said was true then that explained the bad vibes I had about him now. I began breathing harder, it was either from shock or anger. "I don't care what you say…." I began in a deadly quiet tone. Nat arched a brow at me expectantly. My eyes narrowed into a glare. "…we will stop you. Daniel will fight; he won't let this happen to him! You can't do this!" I shouted.

"Daniel will try to fight," Nat replied crossing his arms. I could see how annoyed he was becoming, "However he doesn't know his fate yet so not even he'll be able to stop it. Then again even if he does fight, even if Voltron wins and gets away…his fate will follow him. None of you have the power to stop what must happen." He said in an emotionless tone. "And Daniel's fate _must _happen."

I gritted my teeth; I would've lunged at him if I wasn't so beat up. No…I was ready to hit him right now; I didn't care about my injuries. "I wish I wasn't so weak right now." I growled, I couldn't do anything Nat made sure I was beat to the point where I couldn't move. "If I wasn't…I'd be strangling you right now."

He looked bored. "That won't change anything. Let me tell you something else you didn't know about that little 'saint' you all are working to protect." He said stepping down on my ankle. I held my breath refusing to give him satisfaction. "Four years ago Danny stopped caring about anyone. As long as he could hide behind them he'd put on the act of being their friend. He would play with people's trust and make them believe he trusted them, that he cared about them. He crushed people when they found out he never trusted them, they were appalled when they found he never cared." Nat continued on as he applied even more pressure. I merely watched him unable to believe what I am hearing. Was this the real Daniel he was talking about? "He's only using you people. Daniel never trusted or cared about any of you; he's been deceiving you the whole time you idiot! He doesn't need you, the only reason he ever stayed was to hide. He runs away from his problems, he runs away from people who try to help him. So think about it…the person you want to save doesn't want anything to do with you." He lifted his foot off my ankle then grabbed my shoulder and began forcing me to walk which was by the way very painful to do on a broken leg.

After hearing those words I was quiet for a long time. It left me stunned and even more speechless. No matter how much I tried to deny it I knew Nat hadn't been lying about Daniel. It was the horrible, painful truth that I had just learned. Everything that I thought I knew about him just seemed to fall apart. This newfound knowledge made me feel almost betrayed. Then there was that other thing about Daniel Nat told me. I shuddered at the thought of it. There had to be a way to stop it from happening. He may have basically betrayed us but still I didn't want anything bad happening to the kid. Especially if it was something like this! I still couldn't believe that Daniel would use us like this though. "Nothing is definite…" I suddenly said breaking out of my daze. Nat pulled me to a stop, but it was only for a second. He began forcing me forward again as if I didn't catch him off guard. "You don't know how stubborn Daniel is. Even if he doesn't know what he has to do, he'll still go down fighting. How are you going to 'bring him to his full potential' if he resists no matter what?" I asked with a smug smile. He ignored me and gave another harsh shove. It was amusing that he didn't answer me.

"You've seen the change in him haven't you? Some things have to happen…you and I need oxygen to breathe am I right? Without it we'd all be dead or wouldn't exist." He finally said after a long pause. "He has no choice but to do this. You have no choice but to watch as it happens."

"I don't count on seeing you torture this kid!" I snapped.

Nat chuckled. "That won't matter…besides it's not like you can do anything to someone like me in your condition. You'll die anyway."

….

"Lance!" Allura cried when I was shoved into the cell beside hers. I grunted and shut my eyes, pain shot through my entire body. After I recovered I went and leaned against the wall. "What happened?" she asked.

I wiped blood from a cut on my cheek. "I was jumped…" I muttered bitterly.

"I guess we're even more involved than we think we are if they brought you here." She replied.

"Where'd they take the cadets." I asked suddenly. My mind was only on one thing right now.

"I don't know where they took them. They're always trying to keep us separated." I heard a note of distress in her voice. Everyone must've been here for awhile from the way she sounded. "Though I know they took Daniel somewhere farther below. Keith went after him and there's no telling what's happened to those two."

I decided not to tell them about the darker knowledge involving Daniel's 'fate'. However I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about my knowledge about Daniel only playing us. Though it would be best if they knew the truth Daniel's been hiding from us. "I'm beginning to think it isn't even worth it to protect him anymore." I pushed my temper down when I realized what I had just said. It didn't matter if he had been lying to us Daniel didn't deserve to be left here. Maybe after we get him out of this mess I can hit him.

They were all silent in reaction to my statement. Finally Allura spoke up. "What are you saying?"

"He's been lying to us all along Allura. All this time he's been acting as our teammate but he never cared!" I shouted in outrage while keeping in mind I needed to stay calm. A couple of soldiers peered into my cell to tell me 'shut up'. "All this time he's been playing with our trust."

"Lance what are you talking about?"

Why did it sting so much? "Daniel was never loyal to Voltron…he never trusted any of us and he never cared about us. He's only been pretending the whole time."

Then there was complete silence. I shut my eyes, I never felt so betrayed before. Daniel had only been playing us, he never trusted us. I let out a sigh this was all just so unbelievable! It was turning into a living nightmare. _I just couldn't believe that he would do something like this to us. We all trusted him and he repays us by lying. _

"I'm sure he had his reasons Lance…" I heard Pidge say and I let out a cruel laugh.

"Really Pidge? We took this kid in and trained him and the whole time he never cared." I sighed and muttered to myself, "I guess that explained his annoying personality."

Pidge responded with. "We can't get mad at him too quickly without hearing his side of the story first. Lance I'm feeling a little upset too that Daniel's been playing us but I want to hear him out."

"I don't see any reason behind it." I replied bitterly.

"He was traumatized when he was younger Lance. His two best friends tried to kill him, he was betrayed when he was eleven. " Allura said intervening our conversation. "Maybe that's why he couldn't trust us."

I crossed my arms. "Why'd he lie though?" my voice was a little calm this time. I was made at Daniel but at the same time I was stung. He had been playing with our trust the whole time, I felt disappointed in him.

"He was scared." I heard Pidge say.

"Scared?" Of us?

Pidge was about to say something however Nat's voice suddenly interrupted him. "It's fun to pondered about the logic in a child's mind isn't it?" he said as he came walking down the catwalk. I wasn't sure how much he heard. "To wonder why to do and don't do some things, why they are afraid of some things," as he passed my cell his gaze rested on me, "why they…hurt some people."

"I'm actually wondering that about you…" I retorted.

Anger flashed through his eyes. I was glad I managed to hit a nerve. "Aiden doesn't want you killed off immediately." He said motioning for the soldiers to come over. The dark smile that appeared on his face let me know there was something a lot worse to come. The soldiers entered my cell and grabbed my under the arms. I tried to fight them but I was only reprimanded with being hit in the stomach. Nat chuckled and leaned back against the railing as we were dragged out of our cells. "That means we can begin the torture."

Oh no…

….

We were led down a long hallway; at the end of it was a large door. We were all dead silent. This was the worst thing that could've happened. When we were at the door Nat signaled for the soldiers to stop. He looked over at us with a steely glare. "You first…" he growled at me after opening the door. The soldiers pushed me through the entrance. I gave the others a helpless look.

The doors shut behind us and Nat and the soldiers led me down another hall that led into a smaller room. The room wasn't that big at all; more like a large closet with weird panels covering the walls. I felt myself pushed and I collapsed to my knees. "So what do you plan on doing?" I asked refusing to let him see how nervous I was. He was just some twisted guy who laughed a people's fear.

Nat kicked me in the small of my back. "I'm going to leave you in this room and watch the sparks fly." He said blandly before giving me another powerful kick and leaving the room. The door slammed and I heard it lock.

_What is this?_

I asked myself as I tried to stand. The pain nearly made me fall to the floor again. If I managed to get out of here, I was going to make sure Nat paid. "So what are you going to do to me you coward! Why don't you come and face me yourself instead of throwing me in this little room!" I shouted looking around the room. It certainly didn't look dangerous, nothing like a torture chamber would look like. However today I learned that everything isn't what it seems. My skin began to tingle. Was this like the chamber the cadets where put in? If it was I needed to keep myself calm so I didn't run out of air. I tried to walk around but I ended up leaning against one to the paneled walls."Nat!" I shouted in outrage, I didn't know what he was planning on doing to me or what was going to happen to the others. It had been several minutes now since he left me and my curiosity was driving me crazy. What the heck was this room for. My skin was tingling even more.

It was when the humming noise started that I realized it wasn't my nerves. The panels slowly began to feel warmer. Immediately I stepped away from the walls, the humming was becoming a dull buzzing now. I looked around nervously; what was all of this? My body began to tingle so badly that it had begun to hurt. "What the?" I muttered rubbing my arms, the tingling slowly began turning into shocks. Then I realized what was going on.

However there was nothing I could do as several volts of electricity coursed through body.

….

**Allura POV**

We all stiffened when we heard Lance's screams of pain. Even through the thick door we could hear him clearly. Nat smirked when he saw our appalled expressions. "What are you doing to him?" I demanded.

He just shook his head. "I'm sorry…but we can't have you intervening in what has to happen. You're all too close to Daniel and that's something that we have to fix."

"You can't do this!"

"I can and I will…you stand in our way. If only you learned to step down while you had a chance we wouldn't have to hurt you. Your deaths could've been quick and easy."

"Why do you want Daniel anyway?" Pidge asked.

Nat looked at him for a moment before saying. "Fate."

_What?_

"Fate? What are you talking about?" I asked trying to ignore Lance's screams of anguish. Knowing there was someone out here who would torture people like this made me shudder. Nat was that disturbed, he even found someone else's pain amusing.

He smiled. "I'm sorry but you already have tried intervening enough. If I told you what needed to be done you'd fight even more."

"Daniel can do enough of that himself. Once he hears what you did to us he'll only resist even more."

"Daniel is easy to break."

"But not easy to put down."

"You all seem to have hope in someone who never trusted you. Plus you don't even know all the facts yet."

There had to be a way to win this conversation. He always kept coming up with things that contradicted my statement. "Why do you need us though? Where do we all fit into this mess?"

Nat just laughed like a madman. The sound sent chills down my spine. "It'll become clear soon enough. For now we're allowed to have a little fun before you're killed. It's a pity for your friend Keith; I hear he tried to go after Danny." He noticed the way I stiffened when he mentioned Keith. "At least his life would've been spared for awhile. Now he went and worked Aiden's last nerve. You know what that means don't you?"

"That you're sick in the head." I replied acidly.

"Cute." He snorted, his eyes flashed with a dark light. The air turned cold within seconds. "Too bad that can't help you save him. Once Aiden gets to him, his blood will be on the ground."

Nat walked away leaving me at lost for words. I didn't think any human could be so cruel and twisted. After meeting Aiden and Nat I now knew that it was possible. Things seemed to get bleaker when Leo walked in. The cadets told us we could trust her, but just when we thought we could trust her the most, she turned on us. Not many people around here must be very trustful. Nat looked back at us darkly. "Stay here and watch these three. They'll each have their turn soon enough."

Leo nodded. "Yes sir." She smiled at us, I could see a strange look in her eyes. Nat must've seen me watching her for he stepped into my view.

"Don't try anything." He growled.

With that said he turned and left us and motioned to the soldiers. One of them came over and redid my bonds. My hopes fell; he had realized I had been trying to escape. I winced when the soldier tightened the cuffs to the point where they dug into my skin. Nat gave me a clever smile before disappearing down the hall. "How could you take orders from someone like him!" I snapped at Leo. She merely grinned.

"Because he's stronger." She said in an airy voice.

"But they'll kill you when they don't need you anymore." Pidge said.

She tilted her head. "What?" the tone bland tone she had been speaking in wavered a little.

Was she in a trance?

"Leo they'll just get rid of you when you're not needed." Hunk told her in a reasonable voice. However Leo seemed to be in another place, she was looking off into space. The air in the hall had become cool like it did when Nat's temper sparked.

Seconds later she shook her head. Just for a moment the glassy look in her eyes disappeared. The air became uncomfortably colder. "What?" she muttered then the glassy look in her gaze returned. Once again Leo was in that strange daze. She shook her head and put her creepy smile back on her face. "I don't care what any of you think or say. It won't matter once you're all killed off. You're little 'mission' to get Daniel out of here is a failure." She said with a giddy laugh. What did they do to this girl?

….

**Daniel POV**

I struggled to breach the water's surface again. The minute I came back up; Aiden would hit me with some invisible force. Each hit made the pain from my injury even worse. I needed to stop him; I didn't want Keith to suffer because of me. "Stop it," I shouted when I got to the surface again. The sight of seeing Keith being tortured like this was too painful. "Just stop it; leave him alone I'll do anything…just leave him alone!" I pleaded when I climbed up on the ledge again.

Aiden regarded me darkly. He smiled and jerked the spear out of Keith's shoulder. I winced when I saw Keith collapsed to the ground clutching his arm. He gasped and groaned in pain as blood dripped onto the ground. "Go on tell him the truth then Danny. That's punishment enough…to hear the ugly truth from you." Aiden said acidly. He grinned when he saw my horrified expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The minute I said that I saw Keith look at me. He gave me an expression that said 'don't play games'. I could feel my entire body stiffen; he was catching on to my lies quickly.

Aiden shook his head. "It's time to stop lying buddy. This is where those lies start coming back to bite you." He taunted. I looked down refusing to say anything. Aiden walked over to me and grabbed my hair forcing me to look at him. "Go on he deserves to know." He said and then whispered so only I could hear him. "I want to see the look on his face when you tell him you never trusted or cared for anyone."

He pulled me to my feet and pushed me forward. I looked at Keith and shook my head. "I'm telling you the truth! I don't know what he's talking about." I could tell from the way he glared at me he didn't believe. Lying to Keith had suddenly become harder within only a couple of minutes. He could tell when I wasn't telling the truth now.

"Daniel…" Keith said in a tone that warned me not to evade this.

I shook my head. "He's trying to mess with you."

"The only person messing with you is him." I felt Aiden grabbed my shoulder and pull me back. He gave me a very mischievous expression. "I gave you a chance to make this easier on yourself." He looked back at Keith however Keith's eyes remained on me. I shrank back. "You do know he's been lying to you a lot."

Keith nodded he hadn't looked away from me yet. I retreated back even more.

The tension in the room had risen even more. Aiden was trying to drive a wedge between the two of us. "He does that to everyone he's ever met since four years ago. I bet you didn't know Daniel runs away a lot, that anyone who's met him end up being crushed."

I knew where this was going. "Aiden…" I said in a warning tone.

He flashed me a look then turned his attention back to Keith. I refused to look at Keith because I knew he was still glaring at me. He was watching my reactions to everything. Each second I was probably becoming even more suspicious looking. "He's never trusted anyone…anyone he's ever met have been betrayed. Daniel's been playing with your trust this whole time and he's been lying to you."

Keith took his eyes off of me for a minute to look at Aiden. "Am I supposed to believe you?" he asked quietly.

Aiden smirked. "With how much Daniel's been lying to you…it would be worth taking the chance."

Keith looked at me again. "What do you mean he's been playing with our trust?"

"Daniel's only been using you people as human shields. He only uses people; he never trusts them." Aiden continued, he chuckled. "He never cared about your team…you understand what I am trying to say now?" he growled.

"Aiden stop it." I snapped.

"I'll stop when you stop lying." He turned on me and prowled over. I couldn't back away any farther without falling into the water. My injury was already hurting me enough, it hurt worse when I was in the water. "You call me the monster! Look at how many people you've deceived!" he hissed.

We stood there glaring at each other for the longest time. Finally I said. "After what you did to me…anything I do could never be as bad as you."

Aiden shrugged and stepped out of my way so I could meet Keith's eyes. Immediately I saw disappointment in his expression, I could see so many questions he wanted ask me. I couldn't see hatred in his expression though. "You sure about that Danny?" Aiden asked me.

….

Aiden had led us out the dark chamber and to a freight elevator. The whole time I had been quiet. I was watching Keith nervously; he hasn't looked at me once. Now I knew how it felt to have no one on your side. Keith was still taking it in as well. Aiden seemed to enjoy the wall he had driven between us.

After leading us through a maze of hallways Aiden came to a stop. He looked over his shoulder at me. "It's nearly time…" he said. For some reason those words made me frightened. Keith looked up as well and gave me a quick glance.

"What do you mean?" I asked him calmly.

He chuckled. "If I told you then you'd only fight even more."

I looked at Keith. "I'm afraid there isn't anything I have to fight for anymore." When I said that Keith stiffened.

It was true…I felt like there was nothing to fight for. If Aiden told Keith then I knew Nat must've told the others. They probably didn't trust me anymore. I felt horrible and so alone all of a sudden. Keith wouldn't even look at me. Aiden seemed to be the only one willingly enough to actually talk to me. I shook my head….what the heck was I about to think? That Aiden was actually my friend? No not after what happened four years ago, I'd never trust him again after that.

"The distress will last for awhile. After that you'll be fine." I looked up when he place his hand on my shoulder. I noticed the way Keith was watching Aiden with contempt. Somewhere at the back of my mind I knew I should have been a little apprehensive about him being this close to me. However I was too zoned out to really care.

"Sir." A couple of soldiers were headed in our direction. Taking me by surprise Aiden pushed me back blocking my view of the soldiers. Even if I couldn't see I could tell that there was someone else with them. I could tell because of the way Keith had tensed up when they came over.

"Why did you bring them here Leo?" Aiden demanded.

_Leo's here?_

I tried to see what was happening but Aiden wouldn't let me. He kept me just out of view. To be honest not only was I becoming annoyed but suspicious as well.

"Our business with them is done. We are merely taking them back to the cell blocks." I heard Leo say.

Aiden glanced back at me before saying. "Take this one back with you as well." He motioned to Keith.

"Yes sir." Keith gave me a warning look before the soldiers came and dragged him away. I tilted my head I sensed something was off. When I tried to get by Aiden again he gave me a harsh push. He wasn't letting me see what was going on.

"Aiden." I said however he ignored me and kept pushing me down the hall.

"Just be quiet for a minute Daniel. Everything will be alright kid." He finally said.

_Liar._

I thought. I knew I should've been distrustful but something just snapped inside. Voltron probably didn't want anything to do with me anymore. There wasn't any real point for me to fight. The reason I wanted to keep fighting was because I didn't want any of them hurt. Now that they probably didn't trust me anymore it was in vain. For some reason I just felt like it was hopeless. It was already over to me.

"What are you going to do to them?" I demanded in a quiet voice. Aiden pretended not to hear me the first time so I stopped and faced him. "I want to know what's going to happen to them. What do you plan on doing to them." Aiden should know that I wasn't stupid. Shielding my view of the others wasn't going to make me any less suspicious. The cold look in his eyes told me something different. I felt my entire body turn cold. "What did you do…" I said in a quiet voice.

Aiden smirked. "I merely had them taught a lesson about why they shouldn't interfere. What's wrong Daniel I thought you stopped caring about people four years ago?"

"I did." I caught myself, "…I mean…"

He laughed. "You can't have it both ways Daniel. It's you either care or you don't."

I backed away from him even farther. "No…"

Aiden held his hand out in beckoning. For a minute he looked sincere and trustworthy. I remembered the times when I knew I could actually trust him. Right now I thought I could trust him again. "I told you Daniel…you don't need them. It's time to embrace your full potential." He told me in a light calm voice. He sounded so sincere though, there was no way I couldn't trust him. It would be useless to try and side with Voltron Force anymore. They probably already marked me down as an enemy.

I took a timid step forward and Aiden smiled. This was going against my very logic but it wasn't like I had anyone else to side with. It wouldn't be necessarily trusting him right? "My full potential eh? What exactly is my full potential Aid?"

He tilted his head to one side. "I'm afraid I can't say for two reasons."

"Oh really?" I asked taking on a snide tone. "Mind telling me those two reasons then."

"I'd be obliged." He replied crossing his arms. "Reason one is we aren't sure how strong you can become. Then there's reason two…well I just can't tell you anything yet." He smirked when he saw my face fall.

"How do you expect me to come with you if I don't know anything?" I demanded.

He arched a brow. "And you expect for Voltron to open their arms the next time they see you? Honestly Danny if you want me to stop treating you like a dumb little kid then you need to start thinking straight." He made somewhat of a point. I pushed that thought to the back of my head; I was set forward on stalling as long as I could. Trusting Aiden again really isn't the first thing I'd like to do. Still I felt like I still needed to help Voltron Force despite the situation.

I retreated back however Aiden looked ready to lunge after me if I went any further. He wasn't going let me off that easily and he was ready to chase me around this facility. "You're not giving me any other choice are you?" I asked blandly.

"Is there any other choice you could make?"

I thought about it for only a couple of seconds. It was time to stop stalling; this game had to come to an end sooner or later. "Not really…actually no."

Aiden nodded. "So how about it Daniel? It's nearly time to embrace your potential. Are you ready for it?"

"Yes."

The response was quick and simple. At the back of my mind I knew I would regret doing this. I just accepted Aiden's offer…I recalled him saying I'd be given the chance to accept the offer. Maybe it would be best this way. Voltron might be released if I cooperated with them. I just knew this was the biggest mistake I have ever made.

Now I definitely felt like a traitor.

/

**Note: **_Nat's a jerk for beating down a guy on crutches….Aiden's an even bigger jerk for manipulating a kid….I love 'em both._

_Daniel…well he's an idiot for taking Aiden's side. Don't worry he'll snap out of it later on. And hopefully the team forgives him. Hopefully…..;)_

**Next Chapter: "Living in the Past: Part 2"**


	14. Chapter 14

**XIV**

**Living in the Past: Part 2**

**Keith POV**

I was beginning to feel dizzy from the blood lost. It was becoming even more difficult to walk in a straight line. My thoughts were fuzzy but I managed to keep them straight enough. I was horrified about the truth about Daniel. Why had he been lying to us the whole time? He could have trusted us.

Then there was that weird game Aiden was trying to play. I didn't know whether to be concerned or disappointed in Daniel. _What did you do? _I thought; this kid was in deep. All this time I never thought he'd be someone we'd be suspicious of. When I first met him I never thought this impulsive, disobedient kid was only playing with our trust. Now I was really concerned if he'd turn on us. I remembered the way Aiden had been acting with him. He'd been trying to win Daniel over, that's what it seemed like. If that were the case I was left with wondering if Daniel would actually side with him.

Given what I know of what happened between them in the past I'd doubt it. Then again there was this constant nagging at the back of my head that told me otherwise.

"Keep it moving!" the soldier that was escorting me snapped. They pushed me forward and I nearly collapsed. I applied more pressure on my shoulder to stop the blood from flowing out. The others were unconscious and were being dragged.

I didn't know who to be mad at. Daniel for lying to us all along and playing with our trust or Nat and Aiden for doing this.

….

**Daniel POV**

"Where are you taking me?" I asked Aiden as I followed him. It reassured me some because there were no soldiers around. Without their presence it made it easier to be around Aiden. However I still felt how tense my body felt.

He looked back at me with a brighter look in his eyes. I wasn't sure if it was a sincere look or if it was smug. My head was full of too many things to be sure. So much had happened too quickly; within seconds I had lost the Voltron Force's trust and I came to side with Aiden. It felt like I just made a deal with the devil. "I figured you need some company until you're needed again." was all he told me.

I followed him until we came to a heavily guard door. Immediately I became nervous, seeing this Aiden placed a hand on my shoulder. He gave me a reassuring look and led me forward. The soldiers parted and we enter the room they were guarding. "Vince! Larmina!" I shouted incredulously when I saw the two of them. Aiden chuckled and backed away as I left his side. It was good to see the two of them again.

"Daniel?" Larmina said as I approached the two of them. Her features went from sullen to excited, then excited to wary. I stopped a couple of feet away from them when I saw their expressions. Did they find out about the truth too? My skin tingled and I looked back at Aiden who was merely watching with a blank expression. Though I thought I saw a flicker of amusement pass over his features.

"Are you okay, what did they do to you?" I asked them both.

Vince shook his head. "Nothing they just threw us in here and told us to wait. Have you seen what they did to the others?"

I shot a glance back at Aiden before replying. "No but I think I heard Leo was taking them back to the cell blocks." I felt like I was unworthy of talking to these two now. After accepting Aiden's offer I basically turned my back on Voltron. I was their enemy now.

"What happened to you?" Vince asked. I tried my best not to cringe at that question.

"I woke up in this chamber…I couldn't find any other way out. After awhile Aiden came and got me and Keith." Not necessarily a lie but also not the whole truth. I could feel Aiden's gaze burning into the back of my head. Hopefully he wouldn't turn these two against me as well…though I probably deserved it. Someone like me didn't deserve friends…because I never cared about anybody. Now it seemed even harder to deceive them, my mind was on other things at the moment and it was making it hard to stay focused. I was showing signs of suspicion and anxiety; I only hoped neither of them would notice it immediately.

"And what happened to Keith?" Larmina asked me.

I had to look away to avoid their eyes. "Aiden handed him over to some soldiers…"

"Daniel."

I looked back at Aiden. My mind must be void of all sanity now; because he looked almost pure like he was before. There wasn't any dark aura around him; he looked completely casual and trusting. I wanted to trust him again, to be his friend one more time. It would end this entire mess. Then reality came back to me; Nat and Aiden tried to kill me, they were always going to be my enemies. I betrayed Voltron; just who am I now? Whose side was I fighting for, did accepting Aiden's offer automatically make me his ally?

"I'll be back to retrieve you so try not to become too comfortable." He said in a calm tone, it was difficult to tell the exact emotion he was using. "Also please don't try to escape; you won't be of any use to me with bullet holes in you." That said he turned and left the three of us.

When he was gone I looked back at the two of them. I searched their expressions for any sign of distrust; I only saw that they were a little wary. Good…I think. "Listen we…"

"We're being watched there's nothing we can plan." Vince interrupted and motioned with his thumb to a camera.

_Well crap there goes the escape plan. Then again I don't think Aiden would let me go anywhere._

Vince and Larmina were the only two people who were still blinded by my act. Sooner or later they'd find out too. Right now I needed them, but the only problem was Aiden and Nat might not need them. "What are we going to do then?"

"Nothing…" Vince said.

"There's nothing we can do for now but wait and see what they have in store for us." Larmina said when she saw my expression.

"I hate when the details are kept from us." I growled eyeing the camera darkly. Though it was very ironic of me to say that. I wondered what Aiden had planned for me. What was my full potential exactly and why did Dolus want me? I felt guilt suddenly rise up inside me again. What have I done? I looked at the ground; what were we going to do about the others? It couldn't just be me, Vince, and Larmina to escape, we needed the whole team's help. When we met up with them I knew they'd be quick to ask questions then I'd lose Vince's and Larmina's trust.

My thoughts went back to Aiden again. He seemed so sincere when he talked to me. Maybe he could be trusted again; maybe he and Nat weren't monsters. That left me with another problem, whose side was I on? I couldn't keep running forever right? So who would I end up siding with? Then again there was the fact I had accepted Aiden's offer; that probably ruined my chances with Voltron Force. They didn't need me anyway after I lied to them for so long. By accepting Aiden's offer I accepted becoming their enemy and possibly their demise. Thinking that I could be the very one that would be responsible for their deaths made me feel sick. I began to feel like even more of a traitor now…or a murderer. Both words could describe me and that's what made me feel even guiltier.

_Look on the bright side Daniel, _I thought darkly to myself, _at least you might be able to stop running. Maybe you could learn to trust people now and maybe you could learn what it means to care. _I bit down on my tongue trying to take my mind of my own jarring thoughts. Is it possible to suddenly drop dead from guilt? If it was I was probably only a heartbeat away from demise. Speaking of guilt I hoped Vince and Larmina didn't notice how skittish I was acting. Hopefully I was covering it up well. Looking at them both I could still see some suspicion in their expressions, some of it seemed to fade away. However they still seemed a little tense, I wondered how I looked to them.

"You're not hurt are you? I mean Aiden didn't do anything to hurt you?' Larmina asked somewhat easing the tension in my body. She sounded so calm, she trusted me. That would change soon, I just knew it would.

I shook my head rubbed my chest which was throbbing dully. The pain made it hard to move around quickly. This injury would end up taking its toll on me sooner or later. I just hoped it wouldn't happen during a dire situation. My luck was probably running out though. "I was thrown around a little and I think it tore my stitches." Seeing her shocked look I quickly added. "The bandage should hold it though. I won't bleed out or anything; right now it just hurts really bad." I gave her a weak smile.

She gave me a hard look before saying. "Just to be safe I think you should sit down."

"I'll be fine." I said through clenched teeth.

She looked ready to argue.

"If it makes you feel better I'll have our staff in the medical wing take a look at your friend. The doctors here are one hundred percent reliable."

We all looked back at the door and saw Nat and Aiden coming over. Aiden met my eyes and immediately I felt the guilt rise up inside me again. I hoped he hadn't come here to drive another wall between me and Larmina and Vince. That was the last thing I needed.

"Why would we trust you with his health?" Vince said crossing his arms.

Before either of them could answer I said. "Because Vince…they're keeping us alive for something." I gave both of them a quick glance. "We wouldn't be of much use to them if we were fatally injured or dead. Am I right?" I almost growled that last part. Nat and Aiden exchanged looks.

Finally Aiden looked back at me. "You're getting smarter….for once you're not thinking like a dumb little kid." He taunted.

I gritted me teeth.

"I'll take him to the medic wing Aid," Nat said placing a firm hand on my shoulder. His grip tightened as he pushed me by him, "Come on Danny."

"I'm not leaving them here." I snapped breaking from his hold. Nat sneered and glared back at Aiden. He merely shrugged and nodded.

"Fine let him bring his little friends along. It's not like the three of them can do anything." Aiden said calmly.

"Fine let's go." Nat growled motioning to Vince and Larmina to follow.

Nat took us the door where Aiden stopped me and pulled me back. Vince gave me a concerned look as Nat pulled him away. _"I'll be fine." _I told him using our mind link.

When they left I felt Aiden grab my shoulder and dig his nails in. I hiss out a breath of pain, the force was so powerful that I thought he was going to break the bone. Instead he flung me back into one of the walls. Before I could completely recover I felt him knife me in the ribs with his hand. My head dropped but he forced me to lift it back up and look at him. "The game board you're playing on is beginning to tilt Daniel. All of the pieces are beginning to fall off one…by…one and yours is going to fall last." He whispered, his eyes began to glow faintly and I felt the air become colder. "I only let them tag along because I know they won't help you after they find out the truth. Whether it be from you, me, or Voltron Force."

"You think I don't realize that?" I spat.

He placed one hand over my chest where my injury was bandaged up. Pain throbbed lightly through my body at the pressure. The air became even colder and I gasped when my pain became worse. It slowly went from a dull throbbing to a continual stabbing sensation. I literally had to hold my breath to keep myself from screaming in agony. "I gave you a chance to accept an offer again Danny and you said yes. There is no going back after this and even if you do manage to run away; who will you run to? Certainly not Voltron…no they know you've lied to them they wouldn't want you anymore. It's nearly time to accept your fate. So there's no more running is that understood?" I nodded slowly and he released me. I let out a short sob as I collapsed to the floor. Aiden chuckled and pulled me up to my feet. "You better get going, I'm sure you're being missed right about now."

….

_"So what now?" _Vince asked using the mind link when I caught up with them. I tried my best to mask my anguish expression.

_"We'll have to figure something out when we get there. Right now I don't have any good ideas." _I replied.

I didn't want to continue the conversation so I gave him a harsh look. There was too much going on in my head right now. Things like what would happen if Vince and Larmina found out the truth. I needed them right now and if they chose to turn their backs on me too then everything would really be in vain. Even if I made a deal with Aiden I still wanted them to help me. Later on that would change; if we were going to get out of here we had to find the others. We couldn't just leave them here to suffer. When we got to them I knew it would be over for me. Then again even if they did still trust me I couldn't go with them.

Great I've already made things worse. If only I'd been paying attention more to the possibilities I wouldn't be stuck with no options. I guess Aiden was right; I think like a dumb little kid. Maybe it was best for me to stay with him. Partly because I had nowhere to go and partly because I was curious of what exactly my fate was. Just the thought of it made me both excited and a little frightened. Whatever it was I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. When it was done I'd be killed off. I just pretty much signed my death contract. Not my best move.

"You're helping me now. That's funny because before you and Aiden wanted to kill me." I said wanting to avoid a conversation with Vince. Guilt still had me feeling a little skittish around them and I didn't want either of them to become more suspicious.

Nat looked back at me with a bored expression. "You're borderline expendable." He said in a casual way as if he were talking about something as simple as the weather.

"So that means it doesn't matter whether I live or die? If that's the case then what's the use in bringing me here and keeping me alive?" I asked. Nat smiled and slowed his stride so that he talk with me directly. I shared a quick glance with Vince and Larmina. We all silently agreed that it seemed a little strange for them to keep me around if I were expendable. "Why am I here if I'm probably not needed?"

"There's so much more to this that you can't understand Danny." Nat answered.

"It's worth a try…I might be able to understand it."

"No I don't think you will."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're asking too many questions; that's what."

I frowned. "What's wrong with me asking questions?" I hated how he was acting so mysterious and evasive. He was only playing around with me; teasing the knowledge just out of reach.

"Ever heard of the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?" he growled.

I snorted. "But then satisfaction brought it back."

He rolled his eyes. "Cute and annoying." He said, "and very annoying at that."

I shut up leaving the conversation at that. Nat was better at evading things than I was so I knew I wasn't going to get anything out of him. He seemed satisfied that I was quiet for the rest of the way to the medical wing. After speaking with some of the staff there he motioned me over. "When they let you out you and you're friends are to wait. That was a command, an order, so don't you idiots try anything funny got it Danny Boy?" he said in a dangerous tone. I merely nodded and Nat brushed past me.

When he had left I walked over to Vince and Larmina. "We aren't being as closely watched here as in that one room. That means we can figure out a plan to get down to the cell block and get out of here. You two might have to do that without me though…" I felt the urge to tell them what had happened.

Vince must've seen my expression. "Why?" he asked.

I bit my lip. "Nat and Aiden just want to keep an eye on me more. Maybe I can stall for you and if I can; then I'll sneak off to meet up with you." It took a lot of will power to keep my voice steady. There was no way I was ready to tell them anything near the truth. They couldn't know yet, I still needed their trust.

Wow there was no good way to put that.

Larmina looked a little apprehensive about the plan. She frowned and crossed her arms. "How are any of us going to get through these halls with all these soldiers around though?"

"They haven't taken our voltcoms." I told her.

She still didn't look very reassured. "They have those weird staffs. If we get hit by those we won't be able to use them. That's the only reason they let us keep them, because they know how to disarm us."

I gritted my teeth. "I still have the key Leo gave me. That should get you guys down to the cell blocks. As for how you're going to get down there…sense we no longer have an ally you'll have you have to make up a story." I paused as I thought about what they were going to do. It certainly wasn't going to be the easiest task to perform. "Tell them you want to visit the others."

"That'll only get us so far though," she said in a grim voice, "they'll be watching us closely. We wouldn't be able to use the keys."

"Then you better be ready to run." I replied darkly.

Before either of them could say anything one of the medical staff came over and began leading me away. They both gave me looks that told me this conversation wasn't over. I didn't mind though; even if it were for a minute I was glad to get away from those two. It helped me feel more relaxed and less tense. This also gave me time to think about what I was going to do when we went up with the others. I couldn't run away again; that was only avoiding the inevitable; which would catch up with me later.

I was in deep, my lies were finally catching up with me. The only thing I hoped was they would forgive and forget rather quickly.

….

**Lance POV**

I groaned and lifted my head weakly. It hurt to move around and I was surprised I could move at all. My body still felt like it was being electrocuted. Everything slowly began to come back to me in one blurring motion. I sat up I nearly gagged; my arms trembled and I fell back onto the floor. "Lance are you awake?" at first I wasn't sure about if it were Keith's voice or not. My head was throbbing so much that the cell I was in seemed to be spinning. I struggled to sit up again and managed to lean against one of the walls "Lance?" I heard him call uncertainly, he sounded so weak and quiet.

"I'm okay…I think." I replied quietly. My body was still recovering and I didn't feel like speaking.

"What happened?" he asked again.

I rubbed my temples. "Let's just say the people here know what they're doing when they're torturing someone. I wanted to die and end the suffering." I shuddered at the memory of the pain. It was the most horrible feeling I'd ever endure.

There was a pause. "I don't think we're going to be getting out of this mess anytime soon. This time soon might actually be 'never'." He muttered.

"No kidding…" my thoughts went to Daniel. I felt so bitter, enraged, and disappointed in the kid. After I take him under my wing and treat him like a little brother, it turns out he's only been playing a game with us. We'd been played for as idiots. I never felt so much regret in meeting someone before. "And I don't think Daniel will be helping us. That little brat." I muttered the last part under my breath.

"So you know about him too." Keith replied somberly.

I snorted. "Yeah…and as much as I don't to believe I can't help but to."

"The truth hurts."

"Lies burn."

I heard him sigh. "He had a reason for not telling the truth I'm sure of it."

"Pidge said something like that," I paused before saying, "he said Daniel was scared."

"Of what?"

I crossed my arms and slowly laid down on my back being careful not to cause myself anymore pain. It was becoming too uncomfortable to sit up. "I don't know Keith and now that I think about it Daniel had been avoiding us before. It was like he was scared or anxious around one of us."

"Are you saying Daniel might be scared…of us?" Keith asked in a shocked tone.

"I don't know who or what he's scared of but if it's us I think it makes sense." I answered calmly.

"He was scared we'd hurt him like Nat and Aiden did…" Keith said after a painfully long silence.

I nodded though it seemed a bit ridiculous to. "I'm hoping he shows his face again. There are a couple of things I want to talk with him about." Why'd he deceive us was one of the questions I wanted to ask. Then there was his fate that Nat was talking about. I hoped we could get him out of here before something bad happens to him. The kid may have lied to us but it didn't seem right to leave him.

….

**Aiden POV**

"He thinks they can escape." I murmured when Nat walked up to me. He looked bored up until I had said that. His expression quickly turned from dull to aggressive.

"He knows he can't escape with them right?"

I sighed. "Don't worry…he knows. There's no stepping out now."

"You got him to accept the offer?" he asked and I gave a short nod in response. "I'm surprised…everyone keeps saying he's a fighter. He's really just a scared, weak little boy playing a dangerous game."

"Now if only he would realize that himself." I growled. The only person Daniel was hurting by resisting was himself. It didn't matter where he ran; he's already chosen to accept his fate even if he doesn't know it. His fate would follow him; it didn't matter where he hid. No one can save him from it.

"Will you have them imprisoned?"

I thought about it. Having them secured would make them less of a headache. No, I'd let them live on their false hope. It would be more fun to see them long after something they will never gain. "No let them run around all they want. Let the soldiers let them by." I smirked, "Besides I want to see how far they get. I also want to see how Daniel's going to deal with them. "

/

**Note: **_I wanted to write more but I'll think I'll save it for the next chapter so it will be longer for you guys. Sorry if these chapters are starting to take too long but it was bothering me with how short I was making them. Anyway hope you like it see you all in the next chapter._

**Next Chapter: "Living in the Past: Part 3"**


	15. Chapter 15

**XV**

**Living in the Past: Part 3**

**Daniel POV**

_I now have a hate for medical centers. You go in feeling horrible and then you still come out feeling horrible. Keep that in mind kids._

I thought bitterly as my chest throbbed. I rubbed my hand over my bandages. My stitches were definitely torn; I was glad they fixed that problem but it was agonizing. The doctor offer to give me some pain killers but I declined. I didn't need anything dragging me down at the moment, I also didn't need to rip my stitches open again. That was going to be part of the risk if I was going to do something stupid.

While none of the staff was looking I grabbed some bandages and walked off to meet with Vince and Larmina. They were still where I left them; unharmed. I let out a short sigh of relief. "So how about we starting talking before we run out of time." Vince frown at my awkward stride, the pain was making it hard to walk normally. They'd both object to me doing anything as long as I was still in pain.

Much to my relief he didn't say anything about it. I wasn't going to back out of this just because I hadn't recovered enough. "How are we going to get them out Daniel? The minute the guards see us open the doors we're dead."

"Like I said before…be ready to run. You better move fast."

"Easy for you to say."

"Would you rather have the others tortured to death?" I growled, my temper had sparked up suddenly. A short wave of pain shot through my chest and I let out a hiss. Vince arched a brow. "Say anything about taking it easy…and I rip your tongue out of your mouth."

He smirked and let a short laugh. "I'd like to see how that's possible."

"_Want to find out?"_

"_I'm just curious."_

"Well at least he still has his strength to be stubborn." Larmina said with a sigh.

Vince shook his head. "Yeah," then he asked, "You sure you'll be able to handle Nat and Aiden yourself. Without time to recover you're going to have a tough time with them."

I grimaced as I thought about it. It _was _going to be hard; I didn't give my body time to recuperate. If I were lucky, the stitches should hold for now, but since my luck was probably running out I'm sure they'd ripped again. After all I am nothing more than a liar. "I'll be fine, you two just focus on getting the others out. I don't care what you have to do to get them out of the cell blocks, just do it. When I manage to get away from Nat and Aiden I'll come and…find you." It was impossible to keep the dread out of my voice.

Larmina gave me a concerned look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing—it's…nothing at all." I whispered.

"Oh…alright."

I nodded. "Okay so you guys know what to do?"

They both nodded.

Then before we went our separate ways Vince stopped me. "Look Daniel I don't know what you're hiding but I really don't like it. Whatever it is you better come out with it soon before it gets you in trouble."

I felt stunned and Larmina looked even more surprised. Though I knew something like this would've happened. "I…don't know yet."

"What does that even mean?" he asked in a calm voice.

I shook my head slowly. "I'm not sure if I want to tell anyone."

I heard him sigh. "Fine…look just don't hold this in to the point it makes you sick." With that said he and Larmina walked away. I stood there still shaken by the situation. Vince was right about holding my secrets in until they made me sick. It was too late for that though because I was already sick. Too bad I couldn't just die.

….

**Aiden POV**

_Okay all I have to do is distract Nat and Aiden then find a way to ditch them._

I snorted when I heard Daniel's thoughts pass through my head. He wasn't going to get very far with a plan like that. The others wouldn't accept him back that easily. "Keep a close watch on Daniel." I told Nat. "He's going to try to run away from us."

He laughed and shook his head. "The guy just never learns does he?"

"Sadly no." I replied.

I stalked past Nat and he followed shortly. Why did people put false hopes in their heads? Daniel should know that there is nothing he could do now. He was planning on being very difficult.

"What are we going to do with him Aiden?" Nat asked as he fell into step beside me. "He's going to be a pain in the neck until Dolus comes to collect him. Why is he trying to help Voltron still anyway? I thought there was a wall driven between them when they heard the truth?"

I shrugged. "He's trying to seek forgiveness."

"It's a dead end for him though so why keep trying to push forward?"

"Because he believes he can still get out of it. He hasn't faced consequences like this before so he's trying desperately and ineffectively to fix it."

"What makes you believe he won't get away again? After all he's run away and gotten from us before."

I titled my head in thought. Daniel has been able to get away from us before. However this time things felt like things would play out differently. "They all say he's a fighter…" I said my thoughts aloud.

"…They all were stupid to believe that." Nat finished with a smirk.

We both stopped at the medic wing. Immediately I could tell that Daniel's two little friends had already left. I was feeling mixed emotions about this situation. There was annoyance at Daniel for still trying to resist, pity that he still wanted to fight, anger at his stubbornness, and then most surprising of all was admiration. I felt a small amount of admiration I didn't know why, I could just feel it deep inside. "Daniel where are they at?" I asked casually when I approached him. He had been standing there looking very tense. I sneered; he needed to learn how to stop fearing things. It's part of the reason that he was so weak.

He tried his best to avoid my eyes. "I don't know."

I snorted. "That's the worst lie you've ever told."

"Really," he said in a cocky joking tone, "because I think it was my best one yet." He grinned wickedly.

I struck him across the face and he let out a yelp of surprise. When he looked back at me with a hurt expression I gave him a soft smile. It would be safer and easier to try and win him over. Maybe I needed to be a little gentler. Daniel of course looked a little confused at the change in expression. "It would be better for you tell me where they went Daniel." he gave me a dark distrustful look. "By sending them off alone, you've sent them to their deaths. If the soldiers see them they'll kill on sight, so tell me where they've gone so I can make sure they're called off." His expression changed quickly. Ha he was so easy to get to, all I had to do was threaten the lives of someone and he'd become obedient to what I had to say.

"Y-you're lying." He whispered.

I smiled. "What makes you say that?"

"You want to keep them alive for s-something, you won't kill any of them…not yet anyway." He replied in an even fainter voice.

"I'm glad you're beginning to catch on but…" I said trying to keep my calm composure, it seemed to be working. He was being less evasive and mouthy, "what's with this plan of yours?"

He looked away. "Like I'm telling you anything…" he growled.

Ah there goes that darker side to his personality. The side of his personality that I admired. "I think you should." I told him, though my voice was light my eyes flickered with dark light. The air turned dead cold, and Daniel from the expression on his face became even warier.

"Why?" he asked through clenched teeth.

I laughed lightly. "I just want to know why you're here with us and those two are going after the Voltron members? What's wrong; are you scared they'll shun you when you meet again?"

"No, it's nothing like that." He replied bitterly.

"Really, then why are you choosing to hang back with us?" Nat asked.

"A very good question." I muttered. "Why didn't you just run off with them?"

"Maybe I'm just choosing to be loyal!" Daniel spat.

I snorted. "Hell must've frozen over if you're ever anything near loyal. Now tell us why you didn't take the chance to escape." He didn't answer me, he just glared. So much hatred coming from someone who was so young, how pitiful. "They will never accept you again Daniel." I said in a quiet voice. From the way he stiffened I knew I had hit something. I nodded at Nat then grabbed Daniel's shoulder and began leading him away.

"Where to now?" Nat asked.

I eyed Daniel. "This will slow him down." Was all I said, not being specific about what I meant. Nat just shrugged and followed me without question. I could feel Daniel tense up and even try to make an almost unnoticeable move to escape. He knew what I was talking about. Though I knew Dolus would disapprove of me damaging the boy even more, I wanted to keep his spirit down. If I kept breaking his spirit he'd be less likely to run off, and more likely to stay with Nat and I.

"Aiden please don't do this…" Daniel whispered; he didn't bother to hide his trembling voice.

"Whine all you want, there's nothing you can do kid." I replied bitterly.

Nat seemed to catch on to what was going on. "Oh, so what do you plan on doing to him? We can't do anything too physically or mentally damaging."

Daniel's attempt to escape became even more noticeable and erratic. Despite the burden I held on to him tightly. "Trust me it will not be too damaging." I clenched my teeth when I felt a stinging in my forearm. Angrily I shoved Daniel away from me and slammed his head against the wall. "Bite me again kid and I'll make sure the torture you go through is ten times worse."

Nat chuckled and continued walking. Daniel and I glared at each other before I finally released him. When I did, he rubbed his chest and grimaced in pain. Before he could try and run I grabbed him and shoved him forward. He gave me a dark look but didn't try anything else. "One day…." He said in a cold whisper. His voice wasn't shaking as much now but I could still tell he was afraid, "I'm going to kill you both."

I smiled. "I'm glad to hear you say that Daniel. You're showing me that we're more and more a like."

….

It surprised me that Daniel hadn't tried to escape again. I thought that maybe he would've tried getting past Nat and me; however he stayed silent. Easy to break. Nat was right; Daniel was fragile minded. That wasn't going to stop me from torturing him though. I smiled when we came to the torture hall.

Nat frowned his disapproval. He knew where we were headed now, he knew what I was going to do to Daniel. I arched a brow daring him to oppose my decision. "You sure you want to this Aiden?" he asked in a wary tone. Daniel looked curiously at the both of us trying to see if he could find out anything. I watched him warily and nodded at Nat. "This will be worse than the water torture though. Dolus will be angry at the both of us if the damage is too much." He said.

"I know…" I replied quietly.

He looked a little angry now. "Show a little more care for this, will you."

"Says the one who nearly killed one of the prisoners."

He shut up.

"Now Daniel come with me." I said as I brushed past him. He hesitated but after a few seconds followed slowly. I came to the room I was looking for and took out a key card that opened the doors. Daniel came up behind me nervously and I gestured for him to enter the room.

"What's going to happen?" he demanded.

I smirked. "Go in and you'll see."

He reluctantly stepped into the room and I closed the door behind him. Nat still looked angry that I was using this on Daniel. It was because of the kid's 'fragile mind'. However it didn't matter to me now all that mattered was what was at hand.

"He'll go insane, Aiden." Nat warned.

I shrugged. "He'll be fine…after all everyone says he's a fighter."

He stepped out in front of me. Was he honestly going to make such a big deal out of this? "Funny how you act so dismissive about this when you're the one who cared about him the most. I'm surprised Aiden…I really am."

"If you were smart you'd shut up for the next hour." I snapped. How dare he mention the past? "If you live in the past—

"You live in a prison…I know but I'm not the one living in the past." Nat cut through my sentence, "And neither are you…that's your problem."

I arched a brow. "What are you saying?"

"You're too disconnected from him, that's why you show no mercy." He looked almost impressed for a moment. "You're more of a demon than Dolus himself."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Was my bland reply.

Nat finally stepped out of my way and I continued walking. "He won't take to mental torture well."

"I realize that."

"Then why are you doing it?"

"You said it yourself; I'm more of a demon than Dolus himself."

….

**Daniel POV**

It was dark.

There was nothing I could see. Did Aiden honestly believe I was scared of the dark? Pathetic; the only torture this is to me was torture of my patience! I tried to turn back and head to the door but it was so dark that it was difficult to tell what I was facing. It felt strangely bewildering, for a minute I didn't know where I was. That's how dark it was. So dark I could barely see my hand in front of my face. Even if it were practically pressed up against my face I still couldn't see it.

I had to blink several times to make sure my eyes weren't close. Okay maybe I did feel a small spark of fear in my heart. I couldn't see a thing and I didn't know what was happening. Biting my lip I forced myself to calm down; if I showed I was scared then they already won. No I'd have to stick through it. Nat and Aiden only wanted to see me scared; I wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

"Daniel."

Wait did someone just call my name? I looked around, though I couldn't see how that helped since there was nothing _to _see! Maybe it was because it was dark, sometimes it could play tricks on the frightened mind. That's all it was, I was just hearing things. The dark made peoples' fears stronger and seemingly real. I couldn't let my fear take over, it would only benefit to Nat and Aiden's amusement.

"Daniel."

I clenched my teeth, this time it sounded closer. _Count to twenty and take steady breaths. _I told myself calmly. This was ridiculous I needed to calm down; there was nothing to be afraid of. If I were scared of the dark, then I might as well be scared to close my eyes.

"Daniel…"

_Eight, n-nine…_

"Daniel…Daniel…"

_Twelve._

"Daniel."

_F-fifteen._

"Daniel!"

_Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen!_

"DANIEL!"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed.

Then suddenly it wasn't dark anymore. I looked up and saw that I was in what looked like a bedroom. "Where…" I trailed off.

This was my old room…my room before I left. How did I get here again? That was impossible, I had to be dreaming this whole thing had to be an illusion! I did a quick 360 of my surroundings and sure enough this was it.

My wall was still covered with those silly posters of Voltron. The bookshelf in the corner was cramped with comics and manga. There was the window that I had cracked when I had grown too curious and hit it with a hammer. My room had a bunch of junk thrown around it like it always did.

How had I gotten here? Awhile ago it had been nothing but pitch black. Did I hit my head?

"Danny."

I looked in the direction my name had come from, and my heart nearly stopped. "Aiden?"

It was Aiden; except he looked like he did back then. Younger and purer looking, he no longer looked menacing and hateful. This was my friend…this was the Aiden I remembered, the one I actually trusted.

"What's going on, what the heck did you do?" I demanded.

He looked confused. "Huh, what's up with you?"

"This isn't funny, Aiden." I snarled pushing him away. "What is all of this?"

"Uh Danny?"

Somewhere in the back of my brain it occurred to me how confused he looked. He didn't even know what I was talking about. However I was too angry and bitter to bring that to realization. "I'm not playing your sick little game!" I snarled scaring even myself with the ferocity. This had to be some cruel trick Nat and Aiden were trying to pull, but somehow and strangely enough it felt…I don't know…real.

"Danny?" Aiden cocked his head. His expression was full of concern and confusion; his hazel eyes- they weren't black like they were, they were hazel again- held a certain light of fear. I could actually see how worried his was for me. He probably thought I had gone crazy. A couple more seconds and he'd probably run and get my mother to come up here and get me.

"Uh." I began; not quite sure how I was supposed to handle this. I kept looking around my room in awe. How had I ended up here, what was going on, why was it happening, why am I here? Is any of this even real? The questions violently barraged my brain; giving me a throbbing headache. If none of this were real, then I couldn't let myself be so easily fooled. I couldn't let Nat and Aiden play these pathetic mind games with me. No, I wouldn't let them ruin my life even more. None of this could be real anyway; how'd I even end up here in the first place, wasn't I still back in the prison? I simply shook my head; Aiden stood there still looking as confused as ever. Maybe I should play along, because I didn't know what I could do about this. It was just too strange for me to handle. Finally I managed to get a feeble sentence out. "I-I I'm sorry Aiden, I kinda have a…uh headache." Lame but it was the only thing I could come up with.

Aiden's eyes lit up; though I could tell he was still a little worried about my behavior. "No it's okay…I know something like that must really suck. I understand how you could snap because of that."

I felt pain rise up in my chest; whether it was from the injury or emotion I didn't know. This was the old Aiden, the one who actually care, the one who wasn't evil. It hurt and at the same time it was a relief to see him like this. However I had to keep in mind that this all was an illusion. "So what did you come here for?" I asked, pushing down the lump in my throat. How pathetic was I?

"No real reason…" he shrugged. "You want to go for a walk?" he asked motioning to the door with his head.

There was a tingle at the back of my neck. His words made me feel wary. It was only natural that I feel threatened when alone with him, after all he did try to kill me. Then again; this was a different Aiden; this was him before he changed. This is was also fake. I needed to keep all of this in mind. Aiden smiled and walked out of the room; after pausing for a moment to take this all in I followed him. It didn't matter if it were fact or not, if this Aiden was just an illusion; I still didn't trust him all that much. This wasn't right and I shouldn't be here. This place was just an illusion. _I wonder how this even classifies as torture. All it's doing is making me hate them even more for showing me this._

As I followed Aiden; I couldn't help but look around. This was my house. Everything was the same from before. The uncanny resemblance probably would've had me convinced if I weren't so wary. I bit down on my tongue to keep myself calm. The pain helped me keep my mind straight. Right now it felt like it was full of chaos. I thought about the recent events. It was amazing I wasn't crouched in some corner babbling to myself.

Me, Vince, and Larmina were kidnapped. Then we were almost tortured to death, Voltron almost didn't come in time. The two people I never wanted to see again showed up and imprisoned my friends. I was almost convinced to kill Keith, then just when I thought we got away, Aiden shows again. I end up getting stabbed during a fight that wasn't mine then I end up back where I started. Now the team probably doesn't trust me, Vince is suspicious, and I'm stuck in some damn illusion. Great, just great, my life sure turned out awesome! I thought being a part of the Voltron team would be awesome, but now I regret ever joining. Why'd I even join then? I never trusted anyone after what Nat and Aiden did four years ago. It was a dumb idea to become a part of something that involved putting your trust in someone else.

_Maybe you're actually starting to get over your fear of being betrayed. _

The thought surprised me even if it were my own. I never actually stopped to think about my fear. It always seemed to control my life so much before that I never thought I would ever get over it. Maybe that's why I joined Voltron Force. Maybe I felt like I could start trusting someone again. The thought made me feel even more horrible for doing this to everyone. I bit down on my tongue even harder; until I could taste blood in my mouth. The guilt hurt so much now that I had come to realization. It was too late though, everything has already happened. The members of Voltron were probably all about to die now.

Thunder rumbled overheard. I had been so lost in my angst thoughts that I hadn't realized we were already outside. It was surprising that Aiden hadn't said anything to me. He had been as quiet as I had been. I watched him curiously wondering why he hadn't spoken. This only made me even warier of him. He may have been an illusion but I still didn't like being anywhere near him. I wonder how long we had been out here anyway. More thunder brought my attention to the sky; it was covered with dark gray storm clouds. The air smelled strong of rain water. It reminded me of the times when I would just sit out here and wait for it to downpour. The memory made me smile.

"I see you still like storms." Aiden suddenly said as he stopped. I stopped too and met his eyes; they flicker from light hazel to jet black. I knew it wouldn't last long. "You shouldn't look so upset, Daniel. I can't do you any wrong here, you're safe from any physical or psychological pain I can cause you."

I backed away. "Aiden, what did you do?"

Aiden cocked his head but he stayed where he was; allowing me my space. I didn't know whether to run or stay and see what he had to say. "I'm showing you your options." he replied coolly. His body was relaxed and I could see no signs of threats coming from him. That didn't mean I was about relax myself. Aiden may have been neutral now, but that still didn't give me enough reason to actually trust him at this moment.

He honestly thought that by calming his personality that I would be any less tense. "Oh so I have options now?" I snarled.

He smiled and arched a brow. "Or I could deprive you of any will you have in this. So are you going to listen or not kid?"

"Okay then, so what options do you give me?" I asked impatiently.

Aiden turned away and began walking. Taking this as a signal to follow; I began walking after him making sure I kept a certain distance.

"Look around you Daniel; does this place look familiar?" he asked.

Now that I actually looked around, I noticed the woods we were walking through _did _look familiar. I knew where we were, but it couldn't be possible. This was the forest back on Arus! How could that be though, we just left from my house. Aiden looked back at me waiting for my answer. "How are we on Arus?" I asked in a quiet voice.

Aiden nodded. "We can make this reality more stable if you'd like."

"What?" I asked not know what he actually meant by that.

"Never mind," he said, " just follow me."

"About my options." I said.

He didn't looked at me when he said. "You have three options Daniel. I'm going to let you choose only one of those three and I promise you I'll stick to my word. Though my word," he said looking back at me. I must've looked a little hopeful because he rolled his eyes and looked away, "doesn't necessarily mean it'll be good for you. It may just be a less horrible situation to get out of a even worse horrible situation. So I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Alright, then what _are _my options?" I asked becoming impatient.

"Well your first option is, you could stay here." Aiden replied coolly.

"No." I immediately said.

I heard him chuckle, then he came to a stop and leaned against a tree. "Easy there, just let me explain." he told me. "This is one of your more simpler options. If you stay here, you don't have to worry so much. There wouldn't be anything you had to do."

"You mean no responsibilities?" I snorted in disgust.

"No…I mean no one to hurt you, no one to back stab you. This is a world where there is nothing you have to worry about." Aiden replied gesturing around him. Living in an illusion? This was a place where nothing was real, but was that really such a bad thing? If nothing was real then nothing could really hurt you. That also meant you were alone forever; something that even someone like me didn't want to endure. "Don't think too much about it Daniel." Aiden told me.

I looked up at him. "What are the other two options?"

He crossed his arms. "Well option two is you could endure a different torture."

"Wait so is this supposed to be torture?" I asked with a short laugh. This was hardly torture; there was nothing scary about this. Nat and Aiden must be losing their touch if they thought this would scar me.

` Aiden's eyes flickered with a dark light. That look told me not to underestimate this place. There was much more to this torture than I thought, and it could be the very thing that breaks me. "You'd be surprised with how much torture you can go through in here." Aiden said confirming my suspicion.

I couldn't help but to cast a nervous glance around the forest. What was supposed to be so scary about it? "Third option?"

"Oh this one is my favorite!" Aiden shouted with dark amusement. His wicked smirk made me shudder. Option three must've been worse than the other two. Aiden strolled over too quickly for me to back away and put space between us. He grabbed my shoulders and pinned me up against another tree. The force was so jarring that I almost choked. His mood had changed so violently! Aiden leaned forward so that he could whisper it in my ear. "How would you it like it if I let you see your Voltron friends again. I'm sure they will all love your company down in the cell blocks. I wonder what they'll say when they get to see you again." his voice sounded so dark and cruel that I felt sick. Adding guilt on top of that and I felt even more horrible.

His words had hit me so hard that my legs gave out under me. Aiden chuckled and let me fall to the ground. Everything suddenly faded away into black. Seconds later everything came back into view and I was looking at a cold metal floor instead of the ground. _What the? _I blinked and looked up to see where I was. Somehow I had ended up on the catwalk at the cells blocks. Dread rose up in me, and I looked over my shoulder to meet his eyes; Keith's eyes.

Immediately I cringed back only to be stopped by the catwalks railing. I needed to say something, however my voice had caught in my throat, I didn't know what to say.

"Daniel." He called out once he was sure it was me. My entire body froze up when Keith stood to come to the front of the cells, his eyes never left me. His expression was blank, but I couldn't look away from his eyes; his eyes were full of so much disappointment…so much hate…

It hurt to be under that gaze.

"Keith, I…" I began in a quiet pathetic voice. Those were the only words that I managed to get out though; once again I was at lost. What was wrong with me?

I wasn't able to fumble with my words again, Keith didn't give me the chance. "Mind telling me what's going on here?" he demanded in a dark tone that I never heard him use before. Guilt and shame kept me from speaking up. When I didn't say anything I saw Keith shake his head in disgust; it was amazing how that could make me feel like a stray dog that just got kicked. That's how guilt worked, you always ended up feeling horrible. "Why would you do this to us? I thought you trusted us, Daniel, your own a team, you have to trust your teammates and work with them. I never I'd see this from someone like you." he growled.

I stayed quiet, but I was frustrated as well. No words would come to me; it was like I didn't know how to talk or anything. Keith continued his scolding. "No regrets huh? Answer me, talk, tell me something cadet. The time's come for you to start explaining yourself." I still hadn't managed to come up with another sentence; not even a single syllable word. What was I supposed to say, how would I explain myself?

"It's useless asking him anything now," I looked up, recognizing Lance's voice. He glared out of his cell, "the kid has been lying to us the whole time. Why should we believe anything he says to us now? All he's ever done is avoid telling us the truth and he's been playing us all along with out even caring. Isn't that right, Daniel?"

I clenched my hands into fists and stood up. "Shut up; what do you even know about me?" I snarled, desperate to do anything to make them stop.

"I think that's the point he's trying to prove." Keith stated dryly.

"We know nothing about you, we can't tell whether you're lying to us or not. So you tell me; why should we trust you?" Lance added. He sounded even more scornful than Keith did. "Is that your game, Daniel? Tricking someone into trusting you, then you go and turn your back without a drop of remorse?" He said, disgusted.

"You don't understand…" I whispered.

Lance arched a brow. "You mean you have a reason for using people like pawns? Oh this should be good."

"_This isn't right…"_

The thought was too quick to be my own. However something pushed it back before I could fully grasp it. Within in seconds it seemed to become less important and I was now focused on the two members of Voltron before me. "I've always felt remorse for what I've done, I've always felt so guilty. Up until now I never realized that though!"

Lance snorted.

"That still doesn't tell us we can believe what you're saying." I heard Pidge retort from his cell.

I let out a growl.

"You can't just say you're telling the truth then expect us to go along with it." he said.

"Pidge is right…" Allura added, "you've already lied to us so much. After all that how are we supposed to know when you're telling the truth if all we ever heard are your lies?"

I gave her a defiantly look. "Isn't this enough?"

"Sadly, it doesn't work that way!" Keith snapped, bringing my attention back to him. He looked even more frustrated than he did when I took Black without permission. "If you keep lying then it gets to a point where no one will believe you! I don't know if you're telling the truth or not; so do you think I'm just going to suddenly believe you then forgive and forget?! I'm sorry Daniel, but if you're going to think like that then you truly are pathetic!"

"_It can't…be"_

Once again I couldn't focus on the thought. It probably wasn't that important if it just kept passing through my head like this. I was already thinking about something else anyway; it was too bad I couldn't even form a stupid sentence! "I…I…" Argh! Why was I so at lost at the moment? No words wanted to come forward; I couldn't make any witty comeback, I couldn't make a cheeky retort, I couldn't even plead. What was going on, I normally wouldn't act like this! Was this really what guilt did to someone; did it slowly build up to a point where there was nothing they could do or say for forgiveness? _You truly are pathetic. _I shut my eyes when Keith's words echoed in my head again. I _was _pathetic; no…I _am _pathetic.

"_No."_

My eyes opened again.

"_Daniel, you're not…" _Before I could actually grasped the thought, it trailed off somewhere in the back of my mind.

I looked back up and met eyes with Keith. "You stupid little boy…what makes you think everything will be alright after this?" he said in a deadly quiet voice.

I cringed at his words. "I only wanted to apologize…" I whispered, "I wanted to apologize for everything I did wrong."

"it isn't that simple…a simple apology can't fix all the big mistakes you made." Hunk snapped.

It was tempting to cover my ears and scream. I didn't care if somebody thought I had gone insane; I just wanted it all to stop! Even if I turned away I could still feel their reproachful gazes on my back. They might as well be twisting the knife in it. "I know!" I shouted through clenched teeth. "I know you all won't forgive me…I know won't ever believe a word I say! Okay I get it: I have to earn it!"

"it's not that simple Daniel…"

I turned back around too late. Suddenly both my arms were pinned behind me, and I was pushed back against the railing. My back hit one of the bars, and I let out a shout of pain. The agony nearly made me double over but I was pulled back up. Pain shot up my spine; it hurt even worse to stand straight. Once I had cleared my head; I saw it was Lance and Hunk that had my arms pinned. Immediately I could tell where this was going when I saw where this was going when I saw Keith approaching. "Keith don't-" I was cut off when he punched me in the gut. "…Don't do this!"

"_Not…"_

"Keith, no!" I shouted trying to get free, but Hunk and Lance wouldn't let me escape, they were so much stronger than me together. I let out a short gasp when Keith hit me again. "No, please stop!" I tried to fall to my knees. That didn't work either; I would just be pulled back to my feet and forced to take the blows.

"_Not…real."_

Looking though my fuzzy vision; I could see Aiden standing in the background. His arms were crossed and he flashed me a smug smile. "Now you see how this is torture, Daniel." he said before he seemed to fade out.

I was left to be beaten by the very person I respected. Left to be betrayed again…

"Keith….please, don't do this to me!" I don't know why I was even trying to plead about this. That dark look in his eyes told me that he was far from over. No, I was going to suffer a lot more.

I choked on my own breath when he hit me in the jaw. My head snapped to the side and I was stunned for a moment. He wasn't going to give me time to recover, what seemed like a second later, Keith hit me again.

This went on for several painful minutes; I was punched, kicked, beaten within an inch of my life. Then again it probably had only been a few seconds that had passed. Pain did that to the mind; it made it seem like the torture lasted forever. _Why is this happening? I never wanted it to happen this way! _My legs gave out under me, but Lance and Hunk pulled me back up like before.

"_This isn't Keith! This isn't real Daniel! Don't fall for it!"_

"Then why does it hurt so much?!" I screamed.

Keith forced me to look up at him. I reluctantly met that evil gaze. "There are always consequences Daniel; you're lucky that you're only receiving one of the more merciful ones."

"Bull crap." I spat; which got me backhanded in the mouth. The force snapped my head back; slowly my head dropped forward; a trail of blood dripped from the corner of my mouth. The sudden metallic taste took me by surprise and I choked. Scarlet droplets fell to the floor. "Hopefully you can learn a lesson from this Daniel." Lance said softly.

" The only thing I learned is that I'm beginning to hate you," I snarled the words out without thinking first. It was true though; I hated them all; I hated them like Nat and Aiden. "I hate you all!" I screamed in rage. Keith punched me in the gut; I wheezed out and fell to my knees; this time Lance and Hunk let me drop. I looked up at Keith darkly. He hurt me just like Nat and Aiden had, he betrayed me just like they did, and I hated him almost as much as I did them!

"_Don't believe it."_

Keith looked down at me with a blank unmerciful expression. "Learn to bite you tongue." That was the last thing I heard him say; that unmerciful expression was the last thing I saw before he kicked me in the head.

….

Everything hurt…

Nothing made sense…

I didn't even know where I was! It was pitch black all around. I blinked a couple of times just to make sure my eyes weren't closed. I lifted my head weakly, and looked around the darkness. There was still nothing I could see so far; I laid my head back on the floor. _Why? _I thought to myself as the recent events passed by in my mind. _Why do people keep hurting me? Why do they all end up stabbing in the back? _I scornfully thought.

I should've known better, there truly isn't anyone I can trust; everyone eventually ended up turning on me. I was an idiot to think I was beginning to get over my fears. Not even Voltron could be trusted. "A liar never regrets." I mumbled to myself.

_And now I sure don't regret anything right now._

After several minutes I forced myself to sit up.

Looking around I waited for the darkness to go away or something. Nothing happened though; several seconds later I was still sitting in the dark. Already my eyes were beginning to hurt from the lack of light. My eyes were drying out, because I had them so wide opened. It was useless though; no matter what I did, I still was blind as a bat.

"_Daniel!"_

I shut my eyes, and brought my hands up to my ears. The last time I heard someone call my name the ordeal ended in me being beaten.

"_Daniel, listen to me."_

I refused to listen to the voice. I'd only lose my mind in the utter chaos. Instead I sat there and waited in the darkness for something else to happen. Much to my annoyance I didn't have to wait long.

"The poor baby." My skin tingled when I heard Vince's voice.

The sounds of footfalls came close. I gritted my teeth together; I couldn't let them jar me like the others did. Even when I sensed him right behind me, I didn't turn around and look. If I did I knew it would only hurt me. Vince would just backstab me. Everyone always does and everyone always will. That's how it is; there just anyone you could fully trust. When you did, you became blind and it would be too late before you realized the mistake you made.

And I've made a huge mistake here.

"What's wrong?" Vince taunted. "Forgotten how to talk; or did Keith just hit you that hard in the head?"

I still refused to acknowledge him.

"Have you finally become so arrogant that you think you're too good to talk to anyone Daniel? Come on, I thought you'd be saying something smart, I was expecting some snide remark." he replied in a dark tone. It made my skin tingle even more. He was only baiting me; I couldn't let him get through to me. If I did then he'd only get amusement out of it. I couldn't let myself to breakdown, not with him here. "Come on Rapier Tongue, I want a couple answers." He dropped down to one knee beside me. "We all do. After all, when the traitor is caught he needs to start explaining himself, right?" He stood up again and walked around to where he was now in front of me. I kept my head down.

"Silence is for the dead. Last time I checked you aren't dead…not yet anyway." he snapped when I still didn't respond. "Useless." he hissed pushing me back with a kick. I forced myself to stay still when I was knocked back unto the floor. "Forget it! You probably are better off dead!" he snapped viciously.

"Then go ahead and kill me." I finally spoke aloud in a monotone voice.

"There's a point to this Daniel." I heard Larmina's voice from somewhere. That's when it felt like my heart was stabbed. I guess I should've known better; there's no one I can trust. No one I can care about.

I gasped when I was suddenly jerked up onto my feet. Standing in front of me were the Voltron Force. All of them glaring at me with their own hatred and disappointment.

"Traitors have to suffer." the said in unison.

….

**Vince POV**

Daniel's thoughts had worried me a lot. All of them were so negative and so full of pain. I never heard him in so much agony before. Then there were those weird images that I kept seeing. Just flashes of people; Keith, Lance, Aiden…

I winced whenever I would hear the frightened thoughts barrage into my head.

The things I saw couldn't be real. Voltron trying to hurt Daniel…when I saw Aiden's face I knew it had to be an illusion. However whenever I tried to get it through to Daniel it was like talking through a wall. It was like I was shouting but he still couldn't hear me. Daniel probably could hear me, but he didn't think anything of it.

"Vince, everything alright? Is there something wrong with Daniel?" Larmina asked.

I rubbed my head. Everything just suddenly stopped, I wasn't getting anymore thoughts through our telepathic link. That had me a little concerned that something had happened to him. "There seems to be a lot wrong now." I replied grimly. "It's hard to actually tell what's happening to him. Something is trying to keep the two of us block out from each other."

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"It's like someone is trying to keep us from communicating." I muttered.

"How is that possible though?" Larmina said, "I don't get it; you're saying your link with him is being blocked?"

I nodded. "I didn't think something like that was possible though." I looked back up, deep in thought. _"Daniel?" _I called uncertainly wondering if he would really answer. Again there was nothing. The only thing I got was a bunch of emotions rushing towards me,

Fear, confusion, pain, hatred.

Hate. Definitely hate, lots of it too. I never really knew Daniel to hate someone that much. Only Nat and Aiden, then again this seemed so much worse than his hate for those two. That's what really bothered me.

"Come on, we need to hurry and get to the cell blocks." I said.

I couldn't shake that bad feeling I was getting about Daniel though. We were in for a hell of time later on, I just knew it.

After taking just one step something happened again. More images suddenly flashed through my mind. There was Keith; he looked angry about something. Then I felt pain, enough pain to make me drop to my knees.

_Not good._

"You alright?" Larmina asked helping me up.

I nodded slowly. "We probably should split up. Something's happening and I think Daniel's gotten himself into even more trouble."

Larmina crossed her arms. "Even more trouble than he's gotten into in the past?" she asked scornfully. I nodded in response, still a little shaken about what just happened. "Okay, but are you sure splitting up is such a good idea. It might be just what they want and then we'll be playing right into their hands!"

I grimaced. "Yeah but if Daniel's in trouble one of us will have to go looking for him." Larmina was right though, if we split up then we probably would be playing into their hands. Nat and Aiden want to keep us from Daniel that's why they haven't sent anyone after us.

They said something about his full potential…

It was all a clever trick. They were trying to gain some of Daniel's trust back by ensuring no harm came to me or Larmina. We were already playing into their hands, from the very moment we broke off from Daniel. Nat and Aiden didn't care where we went, they only needed Daniel. None of us really mattered in the equation. We gave Daniel right to them.

I stood there stunned when I realized that we were doing what they wanted us to do. "Larmina…" I said softly, "we need to split up _now._" I looked down the hall behind us. Daniel was in danger because of us.

She nodded. "Are you sure about this? Wouldn't we be vulnerable if we went our own ways?"

"Aiden and Nat don't want us hurt, they'll use us to get Daniel to cooperate. So I doubt either of us will run into trouble." I hoped I was right about that. If not then I was already digging my grave by assuming things.

/

**Note: **_I'm so sorry guys I really am! My computer is broken and I have to use my mom's but I can't use it every day so it took longer for me to finish this._

_Also here's some news you might need to know: school's started for me so that means slower updates. It's also football season which means the band has practices and we'll be doing stuff for parades and competitions so I'll be pretty busy. Aside from that I should be able to get this done (hopefully) in October. _

Good news I'll still be updating so I haven't given up yet and I'll also be doing revising to the old chapters (for future readers). I'll have a poll posted for future fanfics you guys want to read; summaries are on my bio.

On a more comical front the real reason I didn't updates was because I was kidnapped by the Uchiha Clan and forced to marry Itachi.

Secondly doesn't anyone know where Nat and Aiden go in their free time? They seem attached at the hip so anyone wonder what they do? Food for thought ;)

p.s. check out my FIctionPress account it's Riker Rayn. I'll be posting some original works on there soon.

**Next Chapter: Living in the Past: Part 4**


	16. Important Notice!

This fic will be put on hold for awhile. Sorry guys, author's block and I want to work on other stories! The only activity you might see on it is revising (I'm impulsive when someone gives me advice about grammar and mistakes) , but I promise you I haven't given up on it. With school life, band, my own novel I'm working on, and my FictionPress account I've found it hard to focus on Chaos. As I said before it's only being put on hold, it will be updated as soon as I can get the story settled again, so promise me no fits and no whining.

I've gotten too many ideas for other stories I want to work on and I want to get them done before they escape me. Don't worry, this isn't the end of this story peeps. It's just I haven't been able to work on it for so long that my brain as come up with new ideas. Forgive me, thanks for keeping up with it so far, this isn't goodbye forever.

Thanks for reading, Chaos will be update when the story comes back to me!


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